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	No room for complacency to prevent and prohibit crimes against children by UN experts on children’s rights   20 November 2012   Five top United Nations child rights experts today urged world Governments to adopt more active measures to protect children from all forms of violence, prevent the perpetration of crimes against children and to bring to justice those responsible for child sexual exploitation and for the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.   On Universal Children’s Day, the UN experts highlighted the urgency of achieving universal ratification and effective implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its three optional protocols. “These treaties are key to the safeguard of children’s rights and their effective protection from violence, abuse and exploitation in peace and conflict,” the experts stressed.   In May 2010 the UN Secretary-General launched a two-year global campaign for the universal ratification of the first two Optional Protocols by 2012 with the joint support of his Special Representatives on Violence against Children, and for Children and Armed Conflict; the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, in cooperation with UNICEF and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.   Since the launch of the campaign, 24 Member States have ratified the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography which is now in force in 161 countries; and 18 States have become party to the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict amounting to a total of 150 ratifications.   In December 2011, the General Assembly adopted the third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, introducing a communications procedure to enable children to obtain redress for the violations of their rights.   “The multiple ongoing conflicts with the involvement of children and the heightened vulnerabilities brought about by the ongoing financial and economic crisis underscore the importance of the ratification of the Convention and its three Optional Protocols as integral safeguards for children,” said Jean Zermatten, who currently heads the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.   “Accessing to the third protocol to the Convention on a complaint procedure is essential to strengthen child rights protection and to combat impunity for child rights violations.”   “There can be no room for complacency in our struggle to eliminate violence against children,” stressed Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children. “We are nearing the goal of universal ratification, strengthening children’s protection from violence and bringing to an end impunity for incidents of sexual abuse and exploitation. Ratification is a crucial step but only the start of a demanding process of implementation.”   The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, highlighted that there are still 44 States that have not ratified the protocol on child soldiers. “I urge conflict-affected countries to ratify this treaty as a matter of urgency, and those at peace and with no standing armies to follow suit, in a global effort to end the inhuman practice of child recruitment and use,” she said.   “It is extremely encouraging to note the pace of progress achieved since the beginning of the ratification campaign ", said Ms. Najat Maalla M’jid, UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.   “However, in spite of the numerous initiatives undertaken to combat these phenomena, the sale and sexual exploitation of children in countries of all regions persist and reach sometimes alarming levels. States and the whole international community should spare no efforts to prevent children from being treated as commodities”, she pointed out.   For Susan Bissell, UNICEF’s Chief of Child Protection, “these legal instruments are critical to our efforts to protect all children, everywhere. Incorporating these standards into national legal frameworks, and raising awareness about them are all part of a process of social change that is so critically important,” she added.   “UNICEF supports states in their translation of laws into actions that protect children in order that they may live and grow safely, and with dignity.”   On 20 November, Universal Children’s Day, the five child rights experts insisted on the crucial need to place child rights as a priority in the policy agenda and to implement all necessary measures to ensure the effective promotion and protection of the rights of all children, without discrimination.   http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm   http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/comments.htm Visit the related web page
	The Private Sector in the Arms Trade Treaty by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre & agencies Latin America   More global laws exist governing the trade in bananas and coffee than there are for the trade of guns and ammunition. Yet around the world, the arms trade has profound direct and indirect impacts on human rights and development. In Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC), homicides have on average increased from 19.9 per 100,000 people in 2003 to 32.6 per 100,000 in 2008. At the heart of the violence are firearms, with 70% of the killings in the Caribbean being committed with firearms, one of the highest rates in the world.   Armed violence and the arms trade have a significant impact on development and the chances of any one country reaching the MDGs. In practice, every single MDG is undermined by armed violence; death by armed violence leave families without income, schools are closed, health care is overburdened and access to food is impeded. In 2008, for example, only half the children displaced by armed violence in Colombia were enrolled in school, and less than half of displaced adults had completed primary school.   The Arms Trade Treaty. In July 2012, UN Member States came together to address the lack of a global framework regulating the trade in conventional arms by negotiating a long-awaited arms trade treaty (ATT), which would require States Parties to assess the risk of any individual arms trade exacerbating conflict or of gravely violating international humanitarian and human rights law. The negotiation process was interrupted when the United States and Russia declared there wasn’t enough time to address all the remaining issues before the end of negotiations, thereby postponing them.The process for adoption of an ATT will continue in March 2013, renewing hopes that the ATT will become a reality.   Private Sector Gap. International law has been understood to apply to sovereign States, establishing them as the primary actors responsible for providing security and protecting of human rights. Yet in practice, not only States hold responsibility for the out-of control arms trade. The private sectors’ role is monumental.   Companies in North America and Western Europe dominate the global arms industry. Likewise, shipping companies dominate international transport in weapons, including shipments to actors involved in conflict and illicit deliveries of small arms and light weapons to non-state actors in Colombia. Private security companies (PSCs) also fuel and directly rely on the arms trade for their operations. States in LAC spend between 8 and 25% of their GDP on private security and employ about 3 million agents. In Guatemala and El Salvador, PSCs have been implicated in arms trafficking, and although the law limits the use of war material to members of the Armed Forces, PSCs in Peru have reportedly been able to purchase unlimited quantities of it.   PSCs provide security to multinational corporations in the region, while rebel groups implicated in intra-state conflict also hire PSCs. All sides of the conflict in Colombia have used such companies to strengthen capacity through training and assistance in the use of high- technology weapons.   Arms transfers to the region that are legitimate but morally questionable have resulted in a wide range of human rights violations, not least in relation to company operations. In Peru in June 2009, to name but one example, 33 people, including 23 police officers, were killed and at least 200 people were injured in a clash between police and indigenous communities in the province of Bagua.   Responsibility to Respect. In light of the impact companies have on human rights and development through the arms trade, the omission of any reference to the private sector in the ATT should be a cause of concern for governments interested in protecting human rights and ensuring development in the region.   A challenge to referencing the private sector in this or any treaty is that international law has yet to formally address the role of companies in relation to human rights. This is exactly why the 2011 unanimous adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (GPs) by the UN Human Rights Council represents the best attempt yet at addressing the private sector’s role vis-a-vis human rights. The GPs provide guidance for States on how to address the human rights challenges associated with companies in their jurisdiction, including shipping companies and PSCs. Of key importance to the ATT negotiations, States are explicitly encouraged to reference the GPs where they participate in multilateral institutions that deal with international trade, in order ensure greater policy coherence on human rights and business.   Mind the Gap. Protecting human rights, fostering development and achieving the MDGs require collaborative action by States. Agreeing on a comprehensive rule set for the international arms trade in order to prevent transfers that undermine human rights and development must be a priority for the international community. A joint effort therefore is necessary to address the private sector’s role in the arms trade.   Accordingly, UN Member States should seek to reference the GPs in the ATT’s preamble, which will provide a common reference point for States to address the private sector’s central role in the arms trade, and help ensure that companies in their jurisdiction do not contribute to human rights abuses undermining development.   http://www.revistahumanum.org/blog/private-sector-arms-trade-treaty/   Dec 2012   UN Webcast: Access to Judicial Remedy - Panel Discussion, Forum on Business and Human Rights 2012. Access to an effective remedy has been identified as a core pillar in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council. Forum on Business and Human Rights, 4 - 5 December 2012: http://www.fidh.org/Access-to-Judicial-Remedy-Panel-12650 Visit the related web page
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