The Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians for the Protection of Children and Young Persons, which was instituted at the end of the World Conference in Rome on 17-18 October 2004, was convened for the first time in Geneva, at IPU headquarters, in July 2005.

The following decisions were adopted:

1. The Italian Chamber of Deputies proposed creating a section on the World Conference of Women Parliamentarians for the Protection of Children and Young People to be hosted for the moment on its own web site at the following address: www.camera.it. This section, which would be in Italian and English, would contain the proceedings of the Conference and its Final declaration; the list of Parliaments represented and the parliamentarians attending; a photo gallery on the event; the list of parliamentarians members of the Coordinating Committee; initiatives adopted following the Conference; relevant documents - primarily the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It was also decided to establish a link with the section of the IPU web site dedicated to its activities on women and child protection, and to make it possible for interested parliaments to establish a link with the section hosted on the site of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The section will be available online, in a provisional version, on 1 August 2005.
   Parliamentarians may exchange information through their personal e-mail addresses or by fax using an address book that is currently being completed.

2. As far as forms of cooperation with other organizations are concerned, an excellent cooperation was established between the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians for the Protection of Children and Young People and the Inter-Parliamentary Union's Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians. It was agreed, among other things, to organize the next meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians for the Protection of children and Young People on the sidelines of the next IPU Assembly, which will be held from 17 to 19 October 2005 in Geneva.
   It was also agreed that forms of cooperation should be explored with UNICEF, the ILO and NGOs.

3. Jordan expressed its readiness to host the Second World Conference of Women Parliamentarians for the Protection of Children and Young People, which would be confirmed after consultations at home. Queen Rania's role in the area of child protection is well known and appreciated.
   It was also decided to limit the second Conference to a number of specific aspects of child protection, on which an initial debate had already begun.

4. could also be done by involving the women parliamentarians concerned, or by setting up contact points in each continent.

5. Lastly, the Committee confirmed its decision to involve only women parliamentarians in its decision-making processes, in the present phase. It did not reject the idea though that some of the organized activities could be open to men parliamentarians as well.

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