This VNR lab will create a space to discuss the benefits of linking up Voluntary National Reviews with the national reporting to and engagement with international human rights mechanisms (Treaty Bodies, Universal Periodic Review, Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council).

Systematic engagement between the VNR process and other relevant reporting processes at the national level can lead to concrete benefits, such as improving the quality of the reports (notably on the realization of the principle of leaving no one behind), easing reporting burdens for Member States, increasing participatory nature of the exercise by engaging new stakeholders, and taking account of issues such as inequality, discrimination, rule of law in the VNRs.

Given that the 2030 Agenda is explicitly grounded in human rights, the work conducted under international human rights mechanisms is a source of relevant national information on the status of implementation and of guidance that can assist to maintain or accelerate progress. The lab will provide an opportunity for participating countries and other stakeholders to exchange relevant experience and learn about useful tools that can support linking up the VNRs with human rights reporting.

Governments across all regions are using the SDG targets related to children to spur accelerated actions towards ending poverty, ensuring healthy lives, increasing access to quality education, achieving gender equality, promoting child participation, and eliminating all forms of violence. This VNR Lab aims to encourage Governments to report on the SDG targets related to children in their VNRs by sharing positive examples from Member States.

The Lab will highlight how inclusive and participatory VNR processes can help ensure that children’s wellbeing and protection is at the centre of national development planning and accelerate progress towards reaching the SDGs. The Lab will also draw attention to the need to maintain national budgets for the health, education and protection of children from violence, even in the face of the global economic crisis created by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives of VNR Lab:

• Clearly demonstrate the elements of a child sensitive and inclusive VNR;
• Share promising practices and approaches from a regionally diverse range of Member States and experts;
• Highlight linkages between children’s rights, including to protection from violence, and effective systems of social protection;
• Equip Member States and partners with tools to bring child rights, data and voices into VNRs.

The Save Our Education Launch will be an opportunity to hear from global leaders in education about the pandemic’s impact on children’s learning and well-being, to share positive global policy and funding practices and discuss what must urgently be done to ensure the right to education is fulfilled during and after the pandemic.

Speakers include:

• Honourable Minister Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, Minister of Education for Sierra Leone
• Honourable Minister Maria Victoria Angulo, Minister of Education for Colombia
• Honourable Minister Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development for Norway
• Jaime Saavedra, Global Director of Education at the World Bank
• Kevin Watkins, Save the Children UK CEO
• Child advocate

During the event, there will be an opportunity for participants to ask questions of the speakers.

A High-level Political Forum Side Event hosted by ChildFund Alliance and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations.

Join this inter-generational dialogue in the context of the High-level Political Forum.

5Rights Foundation is launching a new volume of essays “Freedom, Security, Privacy - The Future of Childhood in the Digital World”, written by experts from around the world.

The authors of these essays offer their own perspective on these questions, encouraging a more sophisticated debate about how to balance freedom of expression and children’s rights in the digital world.

Some of these distinguished authors will be joining the discussion during the volume's digital launch event, including:

• Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere, one of Malawi’s first female engineers, outlines the specific experiences and hopes of children and young people already online in Africa;
• Professor Sonia Livingstone OBE, of the London School of Economics, who examines children’s understanding of privacy in the platform society; • Mr Jānis Sārts, Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, who in his piece Securing Digital Natives argues that “not everything should be allowed”; and
• Dr Ing Konstantinos Karachalios, Managing Director of the IEEE Standards Association, whose chapter discusses the long tail of what is being undermined or challenged by the new world order.

This volume is intended to be enjoyable and thought-provoking as we grapple with how to deal with the myriad risks that children face in the digital world.

Enroll in this new free, self-paced course created by IOM. The course should be informative to anyone involved with anti-trafficking interventions in contexts affected by crisis.

Humanitarian crises may exacerbate pre-existing trafficking trends and give rise to new ones. IOM developed this unique e-learning course for Humanitarian Personnel which can include Government entities, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, that respond to humanitarian crises. It is designed for audiences who may be familiar with humanitarian responses but are unfamiliar with anti-trafficking interventions in humanitarian responses. 

The course is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

Next week, the World Economic Forum will be holding a briefing on ending systemic racism. From Minneapolis to Marseilles, protesters are gathering in global solidarity with Black Lives Matter as they demand an end to systemic racism. The COVID-19 crisis continues to deepen pre-existing structural and social inequalities across intersectionalities.

How can leaders enable communities in effecting change at this potential historical turning point? The issue briefing is on-the-record and organized by the World Economic Forum as part of The Great Reset.

The briefing will include:

• Lysa John Berna, Secretary General, Civicus
• Phillip Goff, Co-Founder and President, Center for Policing Equity
• Thando Hopa, Diversity Advocate and International Model

Moderated by Isabelle Kumar, Journalist and Presenter, Euronews, France.

On 30 June, IFRC is hosting an event to launch their new report, We Need to Do Better: Policy Brief for Enhancing Laws and Regulations to Protect Children in Disasters. This event will examine how to enhance laws and regulations to protect children in disasters.

Launch of UNFPA's 2020 State of the World Population Report, titled Against my will: defying the practices that harm women and girls and undermine equality.

Seema Jalan, Executive Director of the Universal Access Project at the UN Foundation will open the event and moderate the panel. U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) will offer introductory remarks. Sarah Craven, Director of the Washington Office of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will launch the report. A

 panel of three will respond to the report:

• Sarah Hillware, Deputy Director of Women in Global Health
• Dr Kakenya Ntaiya, Founder and President, Kakenya's Dream
• Jeanne Smoot, Senior Counsel for Policy and Strategy, Tahirih Justice Center