ABSTRACT
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is in many ways distinctive among international treaties and unique in terms of international law generally. The Convention is the first, comprehensive, rights-based international treaty specifically constructed to protect and enhance the position of children. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was the last international human rights treaty to have a communication/complaints procedure attached to it. The issue of the definition of a child was a crucial and contentious part of the negotiations in the original drafting of the Convention. Children in conflict with the law who at the time of the commission of the crime are at or above the lower minimum age but below the higher minimum age are assumed to be criminally responsible only if they have the required maturity in that regard. The State reports to the Committee often expose the persistence of discrimination in relation, particularly, to the ‘girl child’.
