Human Rights Council
Eleventh Session
Resolution 11/1.
Open-ended Working Group on an optional protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a
communications procedure
The Human Rights Council,
Recalling the Principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations and that
recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the
human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Recalling also that, in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted in
June 1993 by the World Conference on Human Rights (A/CONF.157/23), the World Conference
reiterated the principle of “First Call for Children” and emphasized that the rights of the child
should be a priority in the United Nations system-wide action on human rights,
Welcoming the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
and the ratification by more than 120 States of each of the two Optional Protocols to the
Convention,
Taking note of Council resolution 10/14 of 26 March 2009, in which the Council
celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and called for
effective implementation of the Convention by all States parties to ensure that all children may
fully enjoy all their human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Noting with interest general comment No. 5 (2003) of the Committee on the Rights of the
Child, in which the Committee emphasized that the special and dependent status of children
creates real difficulties for them in pursuing remedies for breaches of their rights,
Noting that procedures allowing for individual communications have been established for
other core international human rights treaties, namely, the International Covenants on Civil and
Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Convention on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
Noting also that children and their representatives lack a communications procedure under
the Convention on the Rights of the Child by which communications concerning the effective
implementation of the rights set out in the Convention can be considered by an appropriate
committee of independent experts,
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