UN Committee hails Somalia’s ratification of Convention on the Rights of the Child

GENEVA (2 October 2015) – The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomes Somalia’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 1 October 2015 and repeats its call for universal ratification of the Convention.

“We applaud Somalia for ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as the 196th State to do so,” the Chairperson of the Committee, Benyam Dawit Mezmur, stated. “Ratification is an important step that brings with it a commitment towards implementation,” he added.

The Convention, which is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty, sets out a number of children’s rights including the right to life, to health, to education and to play, as well as the right to family life, to be protected from violence, to not be discriminated, and to have their views heard. While the Convention was adopted just over 25 years ago, the rights it contains are as important today as in 1989. “The Convention is not counting its days, but making its days count, with a view to continuing to improve the lived realities of children throughout the world,” Mr Mezmur underscored.

The Committee repeats its call for universal ratification of the Convention and looks forward to engaging with the United States, as the last remaining State that is yet to ratify the Convention. We also urge States to ratify the three legal instruments that address specific areas of children’s rights, namely the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; the involvement of children in armed conflict; and enabling children to bring complaints of serious violations of their rights to the Committee.

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Ravina Shamdasani - +41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org .

BACKGROUND:

The Committee on the Rights of the Child monitors implementation of the Convention by States Parties: http://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crc
Convention on the Rights of the Child: http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child
Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (ratified to date by 169 States): http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/optional-protocol-convention-rights-child-sale-children-child
Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (ratified to date by 159 States): http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/optional-protocol-convention-rights-child-involvement-children.
Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (ratified to dat by 19 States). This gives children who have exhausted all legal avenues in their own countries the possibility of applying to the Committee. http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=A/RES/66/138&Lang=en

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