South Sudan ratifies UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Date: 8th May 2015
Category: Reporting to and monitoring the UNCRC

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has welcomed South Sudan's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and repeated its call for universal ratification of the Convention.

South Sudan ratified the UNCRC on 23rd January 2015 and with the formalities complete, it has now been listed on the UN Treaty Collection website as a State Party. It is the 19th State to ratify the Convention, which is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty.

The UN Committee has urged States that have ratified the Convention, now including South Sudan, to fulfil their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all children. Ratification is an important step that brings with it a commitment towards implementation.

The UN Committee has also repeated its call for universal ratification of the Convention and called on the United States and Somalia, which have yet to ratify the Convention, to do so. Somalia is currently in the process of finalising a process to ratify the Convention.

The UN Committee has also called for States to ratify the three legal instruments that address specific areas of children's rights, namely the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; the involvement of children in armed conflict; and enabling children to bring complaints of serious violations of their rights to the Committee.

The Committee also welcomed South Sudan's recent ratification of two other key UN human rights conventions and their optional protocols. These are the Convention against Torture (CAT) and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

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