A new legal instrument will soon allow children from 10 countries to complain to a key UN committee if they believe their human rights have been violated.
The optional protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child received the required 10th ratification from Costa Rica on Tuesday, triggering its entry into force on April 14.
UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children Marta Santos Pais said the “historic” protocol will place “the rights and aspirations of children at the center of the human rights agenda” by giving youngsters the right to seek redress for rights violations for the first time.
Initially, only children from Costa Rica and the nine other countries — Albania, Bolivia, Gabon, Germany, Montenegro, Portugal, Spain, Thailand and Slovakia — will be able to submit complaints.
However, Santos Pais said the UN and other organizations will keep promoting the ratification of the protocol by the UN’s 183 other member states.
The convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and ensures children the right to a name, a nationality, an education, the highest possible standards of health, protection from abuse and exploitation and the right to have their views heard.
Two previous optional protocols deal with children in armed conflict, and the sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution.
Under the new protocol, children or their representatives will be able to submit complaints to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is composed of 18 independent rights experts who monitor the implementation of the convention and two optional protocols.
The committee will then decide whether to review the case.
If a violation is found, it will recommend that the state concerned take action to remedy the situation and can also ask a state to take interim measures to protect children or prevent any reprisals.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese