Foilsiú
Optional Protocols to the UNCRC
Ó An Roinn Leanaí, Comhionannais, Míchumais, Lánpháirtíochta agus Óige
Foilsithe
An t-eolas is déanaí
Teanga: Níl leagan Gaeilge den mhír seo ar fáil.
Ó An Roinn Leanaí, Comhionannais, Míchumais, Lánpháirtíochta agus Óige
Foilsithe
An t-eolas is déanaí
Teanga: Níl leagan Gaeilge den mhír seo ar fáil.
Since the publication of the Convention, three Optional Protocols have followed. An Optional Protocol is an additional part to an existing treaty that addresses issues which weren’t covered in the main treaty, or which weren’t covered sufficiently. Countries need to sign and ratify each Optional Protocol separately, because they sometimes create additional responsibilities to carry out.
The First and Third Optional Protocols, which Ireland ratified in 2002 and 2014 respectively, relate to the protection of children from involvement in armed conflicts, and to a communications procedure, allowing children to bring complaints directly to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The Second Optional Protocol to the Convention concerns the sale of children, the exploitation of children in prostitution, and child sexual abuse material. Ireland signed the Second Optional Protocol in 2000, and is now preparing to ratify it.
The Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in May 2000 and entered into force in February 2002. Ireland was among the first States to ratify it, doing so in November 2002. This Protocol aims to protect children from recruitment and use in hostilities.
Included in the First Optional Protocol is a commitment that States will not conscript soldiers below the age of 18 and that States will not recruit children under the age of 18 to send them to the battlefield. It further stipulates that States should take all possible measures to prevent such recruitment, including legislation to prohibit and criminalise the recruitment of children under 18 and their involvement in hostilities.
Click here to read the official text of the First Optional Protocol.
The Second Optional Protocol protects child victims of the sale of children, the exploitation of children in prostitution, and child sexual abuse material. It creates obligations on governments to criminalise and punish activities related to these offences. Ireland signed the Second Optional Protocol in 2000, and the Government is committed to taking the further step of ratifying it as soon as possible. Ratifying the Protocol will mean that Ireland is officially bound by its terms under international law.
The Second Optional Protocol obliges states which have ratified the treaty to criminalise and punish activities relating to serious child abuse and exploitation, including their sale and supply, and to participate in the extradition of individuals in relation to these crimes. Importantly, it also protects the rights and interests of child victims. It obliges governments to consider their views in decisions that affect them, support them through the legal process, protect their privacy, and provide for their safety.
To read more about Ireland and the 2nd Optional Protocol, click here .
The Optional Protocol on a communications procedure came into effect in Ireland on 24 December 2014. This Protocol allows individual children, or those acting on their behalf, to submit complaints about specific violations of their rights under the Convention and its first two Optional Protocols directly to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, provided that State is a Party to the treaties. Any State that has ratified the Convention, or either of the first two Optional Protocols may ratify the Third Optional Protocol.
Complaints made under the Third Optional Protocol must be submitted in writing and attempts at a domestic resolution must be exhausted before a complaint can be submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
For information about making a complaint to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, click here.