Submitted by jhortolani on
This report is part of CRIN's access to justice for children project, looking at the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in national law, the status of children involved in legal proceedings, the legal means to challenge violations of children’s rights and the practical considerations involved in challenging violations.
Argentina has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), including all three Optional Protocols, and the CRC can be directly enforced in the courts as it forms part of the Constitution of Argentina and therefore takes precedence over national laws. The CRC has been cited extensively in court decisions throughout Argentina and legal aid is available to children if they can prove that they cannot otherwise cover the cost of litigation. Children under the age of eighteen do not have standing to file litigation and can thus only challenge violations of their rights through a representative. Children, through their representatives, can file summary proceedings to challenge violations of constitutional guarantees, provided there is no alternative remedy. Collective action to challenge children’s right violations may be initiated without naming individual victims, including by NGOs. Once domestic remedies have been exhausted, individuals or groups of individuals, including children, and NGOs may submit petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child under the third Optional Protocol to the CRC.
An alternative report on access to justice for children in Argentina in Spanish has been prepared by the Argentinian human rights organisation Dimensiones de Derechos Humanos.
