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

GENEVA (4 May 2015) – The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has welcomed South Sudan’s ratification* of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and repeated its call for universal ratification of the Convention.

“We applaud South Sudan for ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child, thus becoming the 195th State to do so.

The Convention, which is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty, was adopted more than 25 years ago and the rights it sets out are as important today as in 1989. These include children’s 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 against, and to have their views heard.

We urge States that have ratified the Convention, now including South Sudan, to fulfil their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all children. Ratification is an important step that brings with it a commitment towards implementation.

We also repeat our call for universal ratification of the Convention and call on the United States and Somalia**, that have yet to ratify the Convention, to do so. 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.”

The Committee also welcomed South Sudan’s recent ratification of two other key UN human rights conventions and their optional protocols. These are the Convention against Torture (CAT) and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact Liz Throssell - +41 (0) 22 917 9466 / ethrossell@ohchr.org

BACKGROUND:

*South Sudan ratified the Convention on 23 January 2015 and with the formalities complete, it has now been listed on the UN Treaty Collection website as a State Party: https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en - See more at: http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2015/05/un-committee-hails-south-sudans-ratification-convention-rights-child

**Somalia is in the process of finalising the process to ratify the Convention.

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 date by 17 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

Convention against Torture: http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading

Optional Protocol to CAT: http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/optional-protocol-convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel

Convention on the Elimination of Discriination against Women: http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-elimination-all-forms-discrimination-against-women

Optional Protocol to CEDAW: http://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/optional-protocol-convention-elimination-all-forms