POLITICS
Azerbaijan Prepares Fourth Report on children`s rights for UN
Baku, June 24 (AZERTAC). The Azerbaijani government prepares the fourth report about the children`s rights for the United Nations.
The report is prepared for submission to the UN Committee on Children`s Rights. The document will be discussed next year. The report will reflect the current challenges in the field of children`s rights in the country.
The State Committee has developed the proposals for legislation to strengthen the parental responsibility. The NGOs were also involved.
Azerbaijan joined the UN Convention on the Children's Rights in 1992. One of the commitments is to present the reports on the situation with children`s rights to the UN.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Convention generally defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless an earlier age of majority is recognized by a country`s law.
Governments of countries that have ratified the Convention are required to report to, and appear before, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child periodically to be examined on their progress with regards to the advancement of the implementation of the Convention and the status of child rights in their country.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention and opened it for signature on 20 November 1989 (the 30th anniversary of its Declaration of the Rights of the Child). It came into force on 2 September 1990, after it was ratified by the required number of nations. As of November 2009, 194 countries have ratified it, including every member of the United Nations except Somalia and the United States of America. Somalia`s cabinet ministers have announced plans to ratify the treaty.
Two optional protocols were adopted on 25 May 2000. The First Optional Protocol restricts the involvement of children in military conflicts, and the Second Optional Protocol prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Both protocols have been ratified by more than 140 states.