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On 7 March Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas received Dainius Pūras and congratulated him on becoming member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

“This is a significant achievement of Lithuania. The position of a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child gives you a possibility to represent Lithuania authoritatively on an international scale, as well as offer suggestions in Lithuania,” said Minister P. Vaitiekūnas.

P.Vaitiekūnas remarked that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall continue to cooperate with D.Pūras in order to follow the information on the activities of the Committee, its problems and initiatives.

“Our goal is to apply the accumulated experience to the future participation in the activities of the United Nations and other international organizations,” affirmed the Head of Lithuanian Diplomacy.

D.Pūras thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for cooperating and pursuing support of other countries for elections.

In October 2006 Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs started the election campaign. Lithuanian diplomats sought to get support from the other countries in Lithuanian diplomatic representations in the capital cities and diplomatic missions to the United Nations in New York and Geneva.

Mr Pūras is among five out of 9 nominees from 22 state parties who obtained the largest number of votes in the first ballot. 188 countries voted. To be elected a member of the Committee it was necessary to get 95 votes. Lithuanian candidate received 105 votes.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its two optional protocols by the state parties. The main task of the Committee is to examine the reports of the state parties on the implementation of the Convention, present the concluding observations and recommendations for the implementation of the Convention. The Committee does not address individual complaints.

The Committee usually meets for 10 weeks per year in February, May and September. The next session is scheduled for May 17th – June 8th.

The Committee is composed of 18 independent experts who are selected candidates and elected by secret ballot of the state parties for a term of four years.  The experts of the Committee work as private persons.

Since 1991, when Lithuania became a member of the UN, Mr Dainius Pūras has been the first representative of Lithuania elected member of one of the UN expert committees monitoring the implementation of conventions related to human rights.

Other candidates elected members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child are experts from Algeria, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Italy, Paraguay and Tunisia.