Photo: ILO
With Costa Rica as the tenth country to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children or their representatives will have the possibility to file an individual complaint as from April 2014,when the Protocol comes formally into effect, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announcement on 14 January.
Starting April 2014, individual children or groups of children from the countries that have ratified the Optional Protocol will be able to submit complaints to the Committee on specific violations related to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Child-sensitive procedures and safeguards will be put into place to ensure that any child filing a complaint is protected and to prevent any reprisals. Measures will also be in place to ensure that the child “is not being manipulated or used to make the complaint”. Governments continue to have the primary responsibility to address child rights violations.
[The Convention is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations, providing protection and support for the rights of children. Its first two Optional Protocols deal, respectively, with protecting children from trafficking, prostitution and child pornography; and prohibiting their recruitment in armed conflict.]
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