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Draft report of the open-ended working group on an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure

1. At its eleventh session, the Human Rights Council decided, in its resolution 11/1 of 17 June 2009, to establish an open-ended working group to explore the possibility of elaborating an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure complementary to the reporting procedure under the Convention. It also decided that the working group should hold its first session for five working days before the end of 2009.

2. In adopting this resolution, the Council took into consideration, inter alia, the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention in 2009 and the fact that procedures allowing for individual communications have been established for other core international human rights treaties.

3. Pursuant to this resolution, it was decided that the working group would meet from 14 to 18 December 2009. However, in view of the fact that the United Nations Secretariat was not in a position to provide interpretation services into the six official languages on 14 and 15 December, the working group could only carry out its activities from 16 to 18 December 2009.

4. The session was opened by Ms. Jane Connors, Director of the Special Procedures Division and officer in charge of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 16 December 2009. Ms. Connors welcomed the Human Rights Council's interest in the question of a communication procedure under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its decision to set up the working group. She recalled that, since the adoption of the Convention in 1989, the treaty body system has evolved significantly, particularly in terms of drafting new instruments and adapting the working methods of the treaty bodies to the numerous challenges they face today. Important landmarks in that respect are, among others, the adoption of an optional protocol to CEDAW in 1999 and to ICESCR in 2008, both establishing communication procedures. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, which also provide for a communication procedure, entered into force as well in 2008. Further, we are only four ratifications away from the entrance into force of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which also includes a procedure for individual communications. Accordingly, we now have a situation where all core international human rights treaties, except the Convention on the Rights of the Child, provide individuals with a mechanism by which they can file complaints before the respective treaty monitoring body. Ms. Connors encouraged delegates to carefully reflect upon the results of recent negotiations of similar communication procedure instruments and to keep in mind the need to ensure consistency and coherence within the existing body of international human rights law.

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