Children henceforth entitled to sue at international level

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  • Friday, 13 January 2012

The new protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child allows children to complain to the Committee on the Rights of the Child for violations of their rights.

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On 19 December 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) establishing a procedure for presenting communications. Aware of the various violations of human rights children are often victims of, advocates of the protocol have recently strengthened the system to protect the rights of the child through adoption.

The Protocol allows each child to submit complaints for violations of his/her rights under the CRC and the first two Optional Protocols dealing respectively with the sale of children, child prostitution and pornography featuring children and children in armed conflict. The complaint should be addressed to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which, after review, will determine whether the Convention has been violated.

On reviewing the complaint, the Committee may request the State concerned to adopt temporary measures to prevent irreparable harm to the child and require safeguards to protect the child from retaliation, ill-treatment or intimidation as a result of the submission. If the Committee believes the CRC has been violated, it will then make specific recommendations to the State responsible for the violation.

The Optional Protocol main objective is to encourage States to take the necessary measures to enable children whose rights have been violated to seek redress for damage suffered at local level.

The protocol establishes the child’ word will be taken into consideration. As recalled by the Committee on the Rights of the Child Chairman, Jean ZERMATTEN, “the Committee, in its role vis-à-vis the new protocol will be guided by the principle of the child’s best interests and bear in mind his rights and views.”

Although, in theory, children may complain directly to the Committee, in practice, the vast majority of complaints are likely to be addressed by the child’s legal representatives, lawyers, parents and other stakeholders.

This is a fundamental step. Note however that this Protocol shall not take full effect until the time it has been ratified by ten member-states of the United Nations. At this stage, it can be implemented with the States that have ratified it.

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