[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] on Friday praised the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the Government of Somalia and encouraged the US to follow suit. The Convention on the Rights of the Child [text] is supported by the 18-member Committee on the Rights of the Child [official website] under the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website]. Ban released a formal statement [text] on Friday:

The Secretary-General welcomes the Government of Somalia’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child the world’s strongest commitment to promote and respect the human rights of children, including the right to life, to health, to education and to play, as well as the right to family life, to be protected from violence and from any form of discrimination, and to have their views heard. Adopted in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child stands as the most widely ratified human rights convention, with 196 State parties. The Secretary-General encourages the United States, the only State yet to ratify the Convention, to join the global movement and help the world reach the objective of universal ratification. He affirms the continuous support of the United Nations in these efforts.

The government of Somalia signed an instrument of ratification [UNICEF report] of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in January 2015.

The UN responds to protect the human rights of children in a number of locations around the world. Last week the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) [official website] announced [JURIST report] a plea to raise $14 million in an effort to support the thousands of children migrating to Europe from war-torn Middle Eastern nations. In July Human Rights Watch accused Syria’s main Kurdish militia of violating [JURIST report] the child soldier ban under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict [text]. Specifically, Article II of the Protocol states that “Parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces. states that children under the age of 18 should not be recruited to armed groups for any reason.” Earlier this year the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Juan Méndez called for modifications and alternatives to the detention processes [JURIST report[ of children in order to ensure their human rights.