UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition
The news broke out of Geneva yesterday.
It’s a victory.
There are too few of them.
It deserves a full measure of standing back and just knowing it happened.
A pause in the pain.
Children will have a voice.
How loud, how listened to, how effective?
All to be known in time’s true telling.
But for today. It’s a victory. It is to be savored.
Hip, Hip Hooray!
From the UN News Centre, the announcement:
A new legal instrument allowing children or their representatives to file a complaint with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child is set to go into effect in April, following its final required ratification, the United Nations today announced.
This means, the UN News Centre announcement, goes on to say:
Starting in April, individual children or groups of children from the countries that have ratified the Optional Protocol will be able to submit complaints to the Committee on specific violations related to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Convention is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations, providing protection and support for the rights of children. Its three Optional Protocols deal, respectively, with protecting children from trafficking, prostitution and child pornography; prohibiting their recruitment in armed conflict; and allowing them to bring their complaints to the UN if their rights are being abused.
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