3rd Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Twenty States sign new Optional Protocol! Canada isn't one of them. Why?
February 29, 2012
Twenty States have signed the third Optional Protocol of the Convention of the Rights of the Child for a complaints mechanism, which opened for signature yesterday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Slovakia has always been a strong supporter of the initiative, even early on when few States were backing it. The other European signatories to the Optional Protocol are Slovenia, Serbia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Finland, Spain, Luxembourg, Germany, Portugal and Montenegro. The Latin American signatories are Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Costa Rica. Meanwhile Morocco and Mali remain the only two African countries to sign so far, and the Maldives the only Asian country.
Highlighting that this is only the beginning of the process, Lisa Myers from the NGO Group for the CRC hailed the importance of the new complaints mechanism, saying it sends "a powerful signal of States' commitment to children", adding that "for rights to have meaning, international redress must be available."
The Optional Protocol will remain open for signature in New York for other States to sign.
