RIGHTS AND ADVOCACY: CRIN launches global portal for using child rights law

Submitted by crinadmin on

When governments fail to recognise and respect children’s rights, they must be held to account. However, few child rights violations are brought before the international and regional human rights mechanisms which can be used to hold States to their legal obligations. At CRIN, we receive many enquiries from individuals or NGOs, in the developed and developing world, who are unaware of the national and international legal obligations entered into by their State. Others do not know how these obligations can be enforced.

CRIN is developing a guide for child rights advocates on how to use human rights complaints mechanisms to challenge breaches of children’s rights. The goal of the legal tool is to make the international, regional and national laws and mechanisms which exist well known and freely accessible to those who need them on the ground. The guide will include the following:

 

  • A summary of the international and national laws that protect children’s rights.
  • An explanatory guide identifying the international, regional and domestic mechanisms that can be used to vindicate breaches of children’s rights.
  • Links to national and international decisions in which those mechanisms have been used successfully in the past.
  • A guide to States showing examples and best practices for implementing the CRC.
  • A forum for debating what changes should be made to the existing laws and mechanisms to make them more accessible and sensitive to the needs of children and their advocates.

This is an ongoing project and parallel language versions are gradually being developed in Arabic, French and Spanish.

Visit our introduction page: www.crin.org/law

Search the database:

By instrument

Instruments are legal tools used to designate, define and harmonise international human rights standards.

Instruments include treaties and protocols, declarations, resolutions, advisory opinions, standards and guidelines as well as case law.

To find national, regional and international instruments related to child rights, search our child rights legal database at: http://www.crin.org/Law/search.asp.

By mechanism

Mechanisms are international, regional or national bodies which monitor the implementation of instruments. Mechanisms include the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and national courts of law.

To gain a basic grasp of international and regional human rights systems and learn what channels exist for challenging breaches of child rights, visit CRIN’s online explanatory pages which are indexed at: http://www.crin.org/law/mechanisms_index.asp.

These pages include information on accessing the United Nations, African, European, inter-American human rights systems as well as a guide to the General Measures of Implementation.

Among others, you will be able to find information pages on: Child rights and the United Nations Human Rights System, the UN Security Council, the International Labour Organisation, the Inter American Court, the UN Treaty Bodies, Using Regional Human Rights Mechanisms, the Council of Europe and the European Union, The Organisation of American States (OAS), the African Union (AU), ECOWAS, and the Arab League.

By country

Country resources can be accessed from the CRIN homepage at www.crin.org.
Over the coming months, the information below will be made available for all countries. To see an example, go to CRIN’s page on South Africa:
http://www.crin.org/reg/country.asp?ctryID=254&subregID=4

 

  • Existing legislation implementing the provisions of the CRC, and suggestions for reform
  • Child rights jurisprudence, possible avenues for seeking redress, and best practice examples of strategic litigation
  • All CRC documentation such as Alternative Reports by NGOs and Children’s Commissioners, information and guidelines on involving children in preparing Alternative Reports, Concluding Observations, reports on workshops following up Concluding Observations, States Parties reports, submissions for Days of General Discussion
  • CRIN member organisations in that country
  • News, reports, events and other country-related resources

Read our first country analyses (with more to follow)

We hope you will help us keep these pages updated. Email: [email protected]

Glossaries

To cut through the jargon of international human rights law, CRIN has published some basic glossaries.

 

pdf: http://www.crin.org/law/

Organisation: 
Child Rights International Network
Attachment Link: 
http://www.crin.org/law/

Countries

    Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.