HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, CHAIR OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS PANEL WELCOME ENTRY INTO FORCE OF PROTOCOL ON SALE OF CHILDREN

18 February 2002



United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and the Chairman of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Jacob Egbert Doek, have welcomed the entry into force today of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

"Entry into force of the Optional Protocol is a significant further step in the protection of children against particularly gross violations of their rights", Mrs. Robinson said.

"The sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography are growing phenomena, even if estimates are not easy to produce because of their underground specificities", Mr. Doek said. AThis makes entry into force of the Optional Protocol an event of the greatest importance. Closer collaboration among States is needed to combat these activities since a significant part of them does occur across country borders".

The Optional Protocol prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and provides a non-exhaustive list of acts and activities which shall be criminalized by States parties in order to fight against these scourges. It further asks for the protection of the rights of child victims and for a close collaboration among States parties to fight against the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

The new legal instrument is entering into force less than one month after the Second World Congress on Sexual Commercial Exploitation of Children (Yokohama 17-20 December 2001), which called, in its AGlobal Commitment", for further action to put an end to abuse of children. Furthermore, on 5 January 2002, the 11th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit saw the signature of a Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution, a move Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Doek also welcomed.

The entry into force of the legally-binding Protocol also triggers the beginning of the reporting process for States that have ratified it. The Committee on the Rights of the Child will monitor progress achieved by States parties through an initial report they will submit two years after ratification, and then through information they will include in their regular periodic reports on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The High Commissioner and the Chairman of the Committee urged Governments who have not yet ratified the Optional Protocol to do so without delay. Sixteen countries have done so, but 76 States have signed the Optional Protocol without proceeding to ratification.

States Parties

The following 16 States have ratified the Optional Protocol:

Andorra, Bangladesh, Cuba, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Holy See, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Norway, Panama, Qatar, Romania, Sierra Leone, Spain, Uganda and Viet Nam.



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