Australia should waste no time in signing and ratifying the United Nations’ international complaints procedure for children whose rights have been violated World Vision said today.
The Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure (OP3 CRC) comes into force today, almost 25 years after the original Convention was opened for signatures and gained near universal ratification.
Despite the long standing global commitment to children’s rights there has been no complaint mechanism in place, a situation that has now been rectified with victims of violations in countries who have ratified OP3 CRC able to seek recourse to the United Nations if they are unable to achieve a solution at a national level.
The Australian government has neither signed nor ratified the OP3 CRC, but World Vision Australia’s Director of Government and Multilaterals Julianne Scenna said they had a good opportunity to stand up for child rights and show their commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ten countries have already ratified the convention.
“We call on the government to ratify the communications protocol as an important next step in promoting and protecting child rights, giving children access to complaint mechanisms,” Ms Scenna said.
World Vision child rights expert Sara Austin will address a special event at the UN in New York today to mark the treaty coming into force after receiving ratification from the required 10 countries.
“Every day we witness violations of children’s most basic rights. Children are fighting to survive, let alone thrive. They experience discrimination, violence in their communities, schools and homes, as well as a lack of access to basic services,” Ms Austin said.
“This new treaty gives children the ability to be heard directly by the United Nations and have a say in holding governments accountable.”
The ten countries to have ratified are: Albania, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Gabon, Germany, Monténégro, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Thailand. An additional 45 countries have signed the protocol, indicating their intention to ratify. “We urge all states to show their commitment to promoting and protecting children’s rights by ratifying this new treaty without delay so more children can access international justice,” Ms Austin said.
Media contact: Gabrielle Brophy, 0407 575 112 or gabrielle.brophy@worldvision.com.au
Notes for editors:
A list of States who have ratified or signed the treaty is available here.
What is the OP3 CRC?
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure (OP3 CRC) is an international human rights treaty that allows children, groups of children or their representatives, who claim that their rights have been violated by their state to bring a communication, or complaint, before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
It allows children to approach the UN if their rights have not been protected in their country and they have exhausted all domestic remedies to seek justice. It also allows any interested party to provide information about grave or systematic violations of child rights to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (through the inquiry procedure).
What kind of violations can be raised?
Children, groups of children or their representatives can bring communications, or complaints, concerning the violation of rights guaranteed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC), and the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC), if their state has ratified those treaties.
How does it work?
Individual complaints – individuals or groups of individuals can allege a violation.
Inquiries – The Committee can initiate an inquiry into alleged large scale abuse. This doesn’t require a specific child or group of children to bring an alleged violation and takes a less judicial model. The Committee can initiate these inquiries itself for large scale abuses.
Inter-State communications – one state can lodge a complaint against another. This doesn’t need to identify individual victims and not limited to serious or widespread abuses.
For any state that ratifies, after the protocol enters into force there will be a three month waiting period before the Committee can receive complaints regarding the state. Complaints can only be filed in relation to violations that took place after the complaints mechanism enters into force in the specific State.
The Committee will only hear complaints if “domestic remedies have been exhausted” – so complainants will have to first challenge the violation through their domestic legal system. If the Committee finds for the victim(s), the Committee will be able to recommend the government in question offer the child victim(s) remedies such as rehabilitation, reparation, financial compensation or guarantees of non-repetition.