Ricorsi individuali (ma non collettivi) al Comitato per i diritti del bambino nel Protocollo del 2011 alla Convenzione di New York

The essay offers an impartial evaluation from an international law viewpoint, of the improvements in the monitoring system of the New York Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989) that can be reasonably expected from adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure, in December 2011. It is structured in an introduction and three parts. Introductory notes explain why international control over implementation by States parties is necessary, especially as far economic, social and cultural rights of children are concerned (para. 1). In-depth examination of the composition, competences and powers of the CRC Committee follows, as these are established under the CRC and the two Optional Protocols of 2000 that complement the CRC substantive provisions. This part of the work contains also many references to the monitoring practice of the CRC Committe and the other human rights treaty bodies. The author has no doubts that a monitoring system relying, merely, on state self-reporting is not enough (para. 2). In the second part, the drafting history and the contents of the Protocol of 2011 are commented, in relation to: individual communications (para. 3), inter-state claims and the inquiry procedure (para. 4). Sadly, efforts from some States, human rights institutions and NGOs to further introduce a collective complaint procedure were unsuccessful (para. 5). Conclusive remarks in the third part (para. 6) concentrate on perspectives for the 2011 Protocol implementation, with regard to: a) its relationship with the CRC and the 2000 Protocols, bearing in mind that the scope of application 'ratione personarum' of all these treaties does not coincide, and b) the clause on reservations, whose consistency with the International Law Commission relevant guidelines and the very purposes of the 2011 Protocol cannot be assessed if not in the light of the future State practice.