Government urged to strengthen children’s rights under UN protocol

Children whose rights have been violated will be able to complain directly to a key UN committee if the Government moves to ratify a new legal instrument on children’s rights.

Under this new measure, children – or their representatives – will be able to submit complaints to the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child, which investigates whether countries are meeting their obligations over children's rights.

But they can only complain to the UN if their government has ratified a legal instrument known as an optional communications protocol.

Under consideration
A spokeswoman for Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said the issue of the State signing the new protocol was under discussion. "The matter is under consideration in the department. This will include consultation with other Government departments on the implications of signing and ratifying the protocol," she said.

The move would give children – who have exhausted legal avenues in their own countries – the possibility of applying to the committee for the first time and ensure that young people can exercise their rights in the same way as adults.

Ten countries
The protocol will officially come into force in about three months' time after it was signed by 10 countries including Germany, Portugal, Spain and, most recently, Costa Rica.

The Children’s Rights Alliance has called on the Government to move quickly to ensure the voices of Irish children are heard at UN level.

“This is a welcome example of the UN implementing its own principles by providing a mechanism on the international stage for children to be heard,” she said.

“However, we must ask why German or Costa Rican children will be afforded this opportunity and Irish children will not?