Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Guide for NGOs intending to report on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Sexual abuse remains common and hidden. It opens the door to systematic abuses and exploitation, which generate huge revenues - and huge sufferings. At one end of the chain, a child has to be protected. At the other, an adult or a youth has to be prevented from abusing this child. In between them, chains of intermediaries are acting illegally to make a profit. Facing them, States have international obligations to intervene. Civil society, as well as other States, must ensure their accountability. This guide aims at supporting reporting and monitoring processes under the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since several mechanisms and benchmarks already exist in this area, it is essential that the Protocol be used as strategically and efficiently as possible to complement other global efforts in the fight against sexual exploitation of children. It is hoped that the guide will be useful both for very specialised NGOs and for human rights organisations with no previous experience in reporting to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Contents are based on some information and tips already available as part of general manuals on the CRC, namely the Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, published by UNICEF in 1998 and fully revised in 2002, and the Guide for NGO Reporting to the Committee on the Rights of the Child published and currently revised by the NGO Group for the Rights of the Child. In addition, it provides background information on the drafting of the protocol, a commentary on some of the first State parties’ reports, and information on the initial reporting processes observed during the 39th and 40th sessions of the Committee. Annexes contain the full text of the OPSC, as well as the official guidelines.