Permanent Representation
International Network
Bice Permanent Representation to international institutions
Bice Permanent Representation office is based in Geneva and is responsible for the development and coordination of Bice's advocacy initiatives within international and European institutions. We are committed to representing as well as collaborating with our network of member and partner organisations and with regional delegations in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe-CIS.
The Permanent representation intends to keep the same impetus that sprang from Bice's active participation in the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Its actions therefore aim at enhancing the promotion and protection of children's rights and dignity so that they become a reality worldwide.
The Permanent Representation relies on proven testimonies and information arising from Bice field projects to ensure higher visibility for Bice's views. It is then also entitled to forward their recommendations to the very heart of the UN system, including its specialised agencies (UNESCO, UNICEF, ILO UNHCR and others), as well as to the European Union, the Council of Europe, academic circles and other NGOs.
Bice remains in constant contact with the permanent missions of the Holy See in Geneva and Paris. It also works in close collaboration with other Catholic-inspired NGOs by searching and reflecting upon common issues and participating in the meetings organised by the Geneva International Catholic Centre and the International Catholic Centre that collaborates with UNESCO in Paris.
Geneva - Bice has been granted a consultative status with the ECOSOC (the UN Economic and Social Council) and is working at different levels:
- with the Committee on the Rights of the Child: to carry out the monitoring of the Convention and its two Optional Protocols respectively on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on children in armed conflicts. It therefore intervenes :
- during the periodic examinations of States reports on the situation of the rights of the child
- during the drafting of General Comments that express views related to the main articles of the Convention
- at the Days of General Discussion when current child rights issues are debated upon
- within the Human Rights Council, the UN main organ dealing with human rights:
- with the Special Procedures (Special rapporteurs on the sale of children, human trafficking, violence against children, the right to education and others)
- for the Universal Periodic Review process
- with the Human Rights Consultative Committee, a body composed of independent experts
Bice has also founded or joined several NGOs coalitions such as:
- The NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child in charge of monitoring the implementation of the Convention
- The NGO Platform on Diversity and Cultural Rights, where Bice, as co-chair organisation, intends to lead to full and international recognition and implementation of that set of rights, with special emphasis put on the right to education. Bice co-signed the Declaration of Fribourg on Cultural Rights that was initiated by the University of Fribourg, academics and members of civil society and issued in 2007.
- the COATNET, a group of associations led by Caritas Internationalis to combat trafficking in persons, especially in women and children.
Paris - Bice holds the status of NGOs having operational relations with UNESCO and participates actively in the UNESCO- NGOs Programmatic Commissions on:
- Human Rights
- Dialogue between Cultures for Peace
It also contributes to the collective thematic Consultations on the "Education for All" programme, and monitors the work of the Commissions on the "Elimination of Poverty" and on "Science and Ethics" including its Sub-commission on Bioethics.
Strasbourg - Bice enjoys a participative status with the Council of Europe and is thus involved in the activities of the NGO groups. Il also closely follows the activities of the "Building a Europe for and with children" Program.
Brussels - The Permanent Representation and the Regional Delegation for Europe-CIS are currenty intending to develop initiatives with the European Parliament and the Subcommittee on human rights, so as to ensure the observance of article 6 of the Treaty of Lisbon that states that EU institutions have to "recognise the rights, freedoms and principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union".
