{"id":6598,"date":"2012-03-05T03:38:35","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T10:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humanium.org\/en\/?page_id=6598"},"modified":"2025-12-06T16:05:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T16:05:54","slug":"protocol","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/convention\/protocol\/","title":{"rendered":"Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the complaints procedure before the Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2011."},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Optional\u00a0Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, 2011.<\/h1>\n<h2>Presentation of the Protocol<\/h2>\n<p><strong>On November 19th 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Optional\u00a0Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure.<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>\u00a0This protocol has been in force since May 28th, 2012.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Origin of the Protocol<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-18493\" title=\"- The UN General Assembly adopted the Third Protocol on December 19, 2011. \u00a9 UN Photo Devra Berkowitz.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/assemblee-unphoto-devra-berkowitz.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"167\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the coalition of 80 NGO\u2019s working for the respect of global Rights of the Child, a third protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly December 19, 2011. The United Nations Committee of Human Rights accepted this protocol unanimously on June 17, 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The first two protocols of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (ICRC) are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/protocol-child-soldier\/\">Optional Protocol to the Convention relating to the Rights of the Child, on the involvement of children in armed conflicts, 2000<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/protocol-child-sale\/\">Optional Protocol to the Child\u2019s Rights Convention, concerning the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, 2000<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each State that ratifies the Convention, can, if desired, become a part of the Third Protocol.<\/p>\n<h3>Contents<\/h3>\n<h4>Introduction to individual petitions<\/h4>\n<p>The new protocol allows<strong> every child<\/strong> to file <strong>individual petitions<\/strong> with the Committee on the Rights of the Child.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, as stated by the Convention, there is no mechanism for filing individual complaints. State parties to the convention must submit<strong> reports<\/strong> describing the situation of children within their state to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.<\/p>\n<p>This new protocol will reinforce these pre-existing methods.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If a child believes their fundamental rights were violated, they can file a complaint to the Committee.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The complaint must meet the following conditions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The child or their representatives must have already filed a complaint before a national court. If the complaint was not successful, the child can then turn to the Committee;<\/li>\n<li>The complaint must be filed before the Committee the year following the end of the procedure before the national court;<\/li>\n<li>The complaint <strong>must not be anonymous<\/strong>, or <strong>unfounded<\/strong>, and should not constitute an <strong>abuse of rights<\/strong>;<\/li>\n<li>The complaint must be <strong>written<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These conditions limit the use of this petition, specifically the time limits for lodging a complaint before the Committee.<\/p>\n<h4>The inquiry procedure<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-18494\" title=\"- Individual communications are subject to certain conditions \u00a9 OHCHR.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/ohchr-childstogether.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"209\" height=\"208\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The inquiry procedure allows the Committee to take action upon <strong>receiving serious information of grave violations<\/strong> of the Convention or its Protocols. Therefore, there is no need to file an interstate or individual petition; this procedure is <strong>independent<\/strong>. The Committee can send on-site observers who verify the accuracy of the reported information. This procedure is <strong>confidential<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Limitations :<\/strong> In order to implement the procedure, the Committee must receive the <strong>consent of the state<\/strong> to initiate an investigation. However, as the states feared a systematic procedure, it became optional. The States is free to recognize it or not.<\/p>\n<h4>Interstate communications<\/h4>\n<p>The protocol also allows a State party to file a complaint against another state, also a party to the protocol. The state prosecutor must then send a complaint to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.<\/p>\n<p>In practice, interstate complaints have only rarely been registered as legal instruments in relation to human rights. At the European level, interstate complaints have already been used in front of the European Court of Human Rights, but it has not often happened.<\/p>\n<h3>Major advances<\/h3>\n<p>Until then, the ICRC was the only legal instrument on Human Rights not to have a process for filing individual complaints.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-18495\" title=\"Human Rights High Commissionner\" src=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/ohchr-seat.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For example, the Convention against Racism of 1965 and the Convention against Torture of 1984 included individual petitions before an appropriate Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women of 1979 and the Convention regarding the rights of the disabled of 2006 included an Optional Protocol allowing individual petitions.<\/p>\n<h3>Limits of the Third Protocol<\/h3>\n<p>The possibility of introducing a collective complaint was not established in the Final Project of the Third Protocol.\u00a0 This procedure would have given to independent institutions in the field of Human Rights, NGO\u2019s or mediation institutions recognized by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the right to file complaints for violations on the Rights of the Child.<\/p>\n<p><strong>See the final text of the Third Protocol presented by the Committee of Human Rights to the United Nations General Assembly for adoption.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"toggle\"><a><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"voir_aussi_box\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/protocol-child-soldier\/\">Optional Protocol to the Convention relating to the Rights of the Child, on the involvement of children in armed conflicts, 2000<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/protocol-child-sale\/\">Optional Protocol to the Child\u2019s Rights Convention, concerning the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, 2000<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Optional\u00a0Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure, 2011<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/references-on-child-rights\/\">Standard references on child&#8217;s rights.<br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"toggle\"><a><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"sources_box\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Informations sur le projet de Protocole<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"toggle\"><a><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"plus_loin_box\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.humanrights.ch\/fr\/Instruments\/International\/Divers-organes-de-lONU\/idart_9090-content.html\">Humanrights Suisse<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Child Rights Network Swizerland<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.skmr.ch\">Centre Suisse de comp\u00e9tence pour les Droits Humains (CSDH)<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/lavoixdesjeunes.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Optional\u00a0Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, 2011. Presentation of the Protocol On November 19th 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Optional\u00a0Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure.\u00a0\u00a0This protocol has been in force since May 28th, 2012. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":74,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6598","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the complaints procedure before the Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2011. - Humanium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/convention\/protocol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the complaints procedure before the Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2011. - Humanium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Optional\u00a0Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, 2011. Presentation of the Protocol On November 19th 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Optional\u00a0Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure.\u00a0\u00a0This protocol has been in force since May 28th, 2012. 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