Committee on the Rights of the Child: individual complaints accepted

On June 17, 2011, the Human Rights Council has adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which establishes a full complaints procedure for the CRC and gives its Committee the right to receive individual communications, conduct inquiry visits to States parties and handle inter-states complaints. Up to this day, the CRC Committee was the only one not to have a protocol for individual complaints. This Optional Protocol has been recommended for adoption by the UN General Assembly later in the fall and the signing ceremony is expected early 2012. Click here to read the adopted Optional Protocol.