From this day children can seek justice internationally

A Panel Discussion to Celebrate the Entry into Force of the third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure is being held today in UN Headquarters in New York. The Protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 19 December 2011.

From this day, this new mechanism will become a tangible reality for children, who will be able to seek justice internationally when national remedies would have been exhausted. It is a precondition for the country against which the complaint has been filed to have had signed and ratified the Protocol.

What is the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure (OP3 CRC)?

 It is an international treaty that allows for complaints to be filed against a State before the Committee on the Rights of the Child alleging a violation of any of the rights in the CRC (and the Optional Protocols on armed conflict, and sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography if the State is a party).

How does OP3 work:

There are three types of complaint:

1.          Individual complaints - individuals or groups of individuals allege a violation.

2.          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. The Committee can initiate these inquiries  itself for large scale abuses.

3.          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 OP3 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 in every possible way through the domestic legal system.

If the Committee finds for the victim(s), the Committee will be able to recommend that the government in question offer the child victim(s) remedies such as rehabilitation, reparation, financial compensation or guarantees of non-repetition.