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Individual Complaints Procedure Initiative for Child Rights ViolationsThe Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most comprehensive treaty on human rights of children, and it has been ratified by all countries in the world except Somalia and the United States. Although the CRC obliges governments to protect children from all forms of violence, millions of children continue to suffer violence and abuse. They have few mechanisms for reporting violations of their rights. Violations that threaten the survival and security of children during armed conflicts, for example, cannot wait for a routine five-year report before the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which can only issue recommendations to national governments. Additional mechanisms are needed. Kindernothilfe has been campaigning for achieving the right of an individual complaints procedure in an optional protocol to the CRC, so far in co-operation with Ludwig-Boltzmann Stiftung, ECPAT-Germany (approximately 30 organizations), the National Coalition (approximately 100 organizations) and Forum Menschenrechte (approximately 40 organizations). They all aim to strengthen the rights of the child by working together towards an individual complaints procedure. Such a procedure would put the enforcement mechanisms of the CRC on an equal level with other human rights instruments. There are already five treaties in international law that contain the right of communications for individuals. This international and independent inquiry procedure before a UN committee has an important publicity function, as it allows a supplementary examination by a committee of experts who are familiar with child-specific discrimination and human rights violations. Until today several important steps have been taken. Kindernothilfe is in communication with the German government. The goal is to convince the government of the necessity of an individual complaints procedure and thereafter to make a proposition at the 60th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. For
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