Ein Individualbeschwerderecht für Kinder

In April 2014 the third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure entered into force. The protocol enables children to submit a communication claiming to be a victim of a violation by its home state before the Committee on the Rights of the Child. This possibility can be considered as a manifestation of the four general principles the Committee underlined to be fundamental concepts of the Convention. According to these principles the Convention rights have to be valid for every child without discrimination, every child has the inherent right to life and the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children. To enforce this precedence of the best interests of the child the opportunity to participate whenever the child's interests are affected shall be provided. When drafting the Optional Protocol the Open-ended Working Group had to discuss many issues with the future State parties. In the end, the State parties for example agreed on permitting a communications procedure concerning a violation of the rights set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as in the two already existing Optional Protocols. This also includes economic, social and cultural rights. In derogation from most national law systems children are also able to conduct their own communications without being represented by their parents. Despite this rule, a communication can still be submitted on behalf of a child with its consent or even without, if the author can justify the lack of approval. In addition, the Optional Protocol provides the instrument of inter-state communications. After having received an admissible communication the Committee confidentially informs the respondent State party and asks for written explanations and statements clarifying the matter. In the light of all documentations and statements made on the communication, the Committee considers the case. After examining a communication, the Committee transmits its views and recommendations to the parties concerned. Subsequently the State shall take note of the recommendations and if necessary, remedy the violation of the children's rights. The public focus on States neglecting and even violating children's rights coming along with the observation of the Committee is only one of the positive impacts of the Optional Protocol. Enabling children to stand for their own rights as a subject in law empowers their position in society and at the same time the promotion of Human Rights. However, beside all of the improvements related to children's rights there remains still one goal unachieved – the effective enforcement of children's rights in international law. The Committee has no effective instrument to compel the States' cooperation. An effective enforcement of individual rights and sanctioning of violations is not to be accomplished by rules of the Optional Protocol. Instead, the already given system of Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts might be appropriate to a limited extend.