General Documents Not Relating To Specific States - Meetings of State Parties or of the UN Economic and Social Council - CRC - 1997 - Election of the Members of the Committee

Sixth meeting

New York, 18 February 1997

Agenda item 5

ELECTION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 43 OF THE CONVENTION ON

THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, OF FIVE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON

THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD TO REPLACE THOSE WHOSE TERMS ARE DUE

TO EXPIRE ON 28 FEBRUARY 1997

Note by the Secretary-General

Addendum

1. The present addendum contains an additional nomination for election to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, received after the submission by the Secretary-General of the list of candidates in documents CRC/SP/21 and Add.1 to 5. Biographical data of the person nominated, as furnished by the State concerned, are contained in the annex to the present document.

Name of candidate Nominated by

Mrs. Amy Onike Eileen Smythe Sierra Leone

Annex

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA OF NOMINEE

Mrs. Amy Onike Eileen Smythe (Sierra Leone)

Education

1959-1964: Annie Walsh Memorial School

1964-1967: Milton Margai Teacher's College, Teachers' Advanced Certificate

1967-1968: Université d'Abidjan, Cours de formation de langue française

1971-1972: Université Paul Valery - Montpellier, Diplôme supérieure de

l'enseignement du français - langue étrangère

1978-1982: Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, B.A., Honours

(French)

Professional experience

- Minister of Gender and Children's Affairs (May 1996-present)

- National President of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Sierra Leone (April 1993)

- Chairman, Board of Governors, YWCA Vocational Institute (September 1993)

- Country Programme Director, CUSO Sierra Leone (1991-1994): responsible for the development, maintenance, coordination, representation and daily administration of the CUSO Sierra Leone programme

- Facilitator of a workshop on financial management sponsored by EZE (Evangelische Zentralstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit) (Germany); presented paper on "Coping with diminishing resources" (February 1995)

- Prepared a paper on "The situation of women in Africa" for the Du (Germany) workshop on "From income generation to business", Capetown, South Africa

- Participated as a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) team visiting Rwanda and Burundi as part of the Council's programme on restructuring Africa (June 1995)

- Assessment for Christian Aid (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) on the situation of youth in Sierra Leone (September 1995)

- Facilitator of WCC team visit to Sierra Leone on behalf of the Africa Desk - WCC

- Administrator of Micro-Projects, community development projects administered in Sierra leone on behalf of the Canadian Government through the Canadian High Commission in Lagos/Accra

- Vice-President of the National Council for Children (1995)

- Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Organization for Extension of Intermediate Technology (January 1996)

- Programme Development Officer, Women's Desk, Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (1990-1991): responsible for coordinating the activities of church women in Sierra Leone

- Senior Teacher of French and English, Methodist Girls' High School and Sierra Leone Grammar School (1967-1990)

- Examiner for French, West African Examinations Council (1982-1990)

- Chief Examiner for French, West African Examinations Council (1987)

- Youth Leader, Vice-President, YWCA, Freetown (1967-1991)

Travel

Travelled widely in Sierra Leone and all of Africa, Europe, the United States of America and Canada. This travel included participation in the following:

1971: World Food Congress, The Hague

1983: Interpreters' training workshop, Lomé

1984: All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), fourth General Assembly, Lomé

1985: AACC Youth Assembly, Yaoundé

1987: World YWCA Council meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America

1987: AACC Fifth General Assembly

1989: WCC Working Group meeting in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon

1990: AACC Workshop on Women and Economic Justice, Kitwe, Zambia

1992: AACC Sixth General Assembly, Harare

Qualifications and experience

- Trained interpreter and translator of French and English; worked as a volunteer interpreter with the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and World Council of Churches (WCC)

- Participant at CUSO Gender and Development workshop for the West Africa subregion with the outcome being production of a manual for use in gender and development training by indigenous non-governmental organizations and local institutions

- Member of the working group of AACC with mandate of producing a mission statement to serve as a guide to churches and related institutions in Africa in their development endeavours (May 1995)

- Participated in a gender and development workshop in Ottawa, Canada (November 1993)

- Board member, Association for Rural Development Small Project Fund (appointed January 1994)

- Associated consultant on gender issues with Lekon Consultancies Ltd., Sierra Leone (appointed February 1994)

- Associated consultant, Research and Development Consultants, Sierra Leone (appointed March 1994)

- Moderator, AACC workshop in Nairobi on democracy and development (August 1994)

- Presented a paper at a CIDA workshop in Dakar on small to medium agro-based enterprises, entitled "The food industry in Sierra Leone - a sociological analysis"

- Facilitator of a workshop on behalf of Du (Germany) for volunteers in West Africa; presented a paper on "Partnerships from the perspective of non‑governmental organizations in the South"

- Foundation member of Women's Movement for Peace in Sierra Leone (December 1994)

- Participant in the preparatory meeting for the Africa platform for the Fourth World Conference on Women (November 1994)

Interests

Reading, creative writing and meditation. A strong commitment to development issues relating to people at the community level and issues related to justice and peace.

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