At the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the UN Akan Rakhmetullin signed on behalf of Kazakhstan the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure (3rd Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child), El.kz cites MFA.
Kazakhstan became the 53rd country to sign this important international human rights treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2011 and opened for signature on February 28, 2012.
The document gives the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (a group of 18 independent experts in the field of the child rights) the authority to receive and consider complaints about violations of the rights of the child, provided for by the three main UN instruments on the rights of the child: the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its two Optional Protocols – on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
In accordance with the 3rd Optional Protocol, children or their representatives can directly file complaints about violations of their rights to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee, in turn, considers each case and takes a decision that contains specific recommendations to the State parties.
The signing of this document reaffirms Kazakhstan's commitment to ensuring the rights of the child and strengthening national mechanisms for the legal protection of children.
The document will enter into force for the Republic of Kazakhstan after its ratification by the Parliament.