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Committee on the Rights of the Child Concluding Observations on The Second Periodic Report of the Holy See

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ioana Cismas
Ioana Cismas*
Affiliation:
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law
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Extract

In May 2014, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, an expert body tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by its state parties, issued its concluding observations on the second periodic report of the Holy See. The observations mark a definitive turning point in the approach of the treaty body concerning the nature of obligations which the Holy See incurs under the Convention; shed light on the concrete modalities which the Holy See could embrace to perform these obligations; and tie into the broader discussion on the extraterritorial reach of human rights treaties, in casu, the CRC.

Type
International Legal Materials
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , June 2014 , pp. 580 - 596
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2014

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References

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights website (visited June 18, 2014), http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/VAT/CRC_C_VAT_CO_2_16302_E.pdf.

* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-fifth session (13-31 January 2014)

1 U.N. Comm. on the Rights of the Child (U.N.CRC), Concluding Observations on the Second Periodic Report of the Holy See, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/VAT/CO/2, Feb. 25, 2014 [hereinafter Concluding Observations].

2 U.N.CRC, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention: Second Reports of States Parties Due in 1997, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/VAT/2 (Oct. 22, 2012) [hereinafter CRC Second Report].

3 The Holy See ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child on April 20, 1990. Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nov. 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force Sept. 2, 1990) [hereinafter CRC]. On October 24, 2001, it ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), May 25, 2000, 2173 U.N.T.S. 222 (entered into force Feb. 12, 2002), and the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, May 25, 2000, 2171 U.N.T.S. 227 (entered into force Jan. 18, 2002) [hereinafter OPSC].

4 Reservations and Declaration of the Holy See to the CRC, UNTC, Online Database, Chapter IV: Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, declaration, [hereinafter Reservations & Declaration] (entering three reservations and one declaration). Insofar as it seeks to exclude or modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the CRC in their application to the Holy See, the declaration is essentially a reserving instrument and hence subject to the rules applicable to reservations. International Law Commission, Guide to Practice on Reservations to Treaties ¶ 3.1.5.5 (2011). See I. Cismas, Religious Actors and International Law (2014), at 219-23 (examining the compatibility of the Holy See’s reserving instruments with the object and purposes of the CRC, their permissibility under the Convention and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties).

5 See Reservations & Declaration, supra note 4, declaration and ¶ b.

6 See id. ¶ c. See also Legge sulle fonti del diritto, Bollettino N. 16 (periodo 1° gennaio 2008 - 31 maggio 2009), N. LXXI, art.1.1.

7 U.N.CRC, Compte rendu analytique de la 255ème seance, Examen des rapports présentés par les Etats parties: Rapport initial du Saint-Si ège, ¶¶ 4, 19, 46, UN Doc. CRC/C/SR.255, Nov. 24, 1995 [hereinafter Compte rendu rapport initial].

8 CRC Second Report, supra note 2, ¶¶ 1-4.

9 Treaty Between the Holy See and Italy, It.-Holy See, Preamble, art. 2-4, Feb. 11, 1929, available at http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/dam/vaticanstate/documenti/leggi-e-decreti/Normative-Penali-e-Amministrative/LateranTreaty.pdf (whereby Italy ceded the Vatican territory of 0.44 square kilometers and conferred the resemblance of statehood upon the Holy See).

10 See, e.g., Compte rendu rapport initial, supra note 7, ¶¶ 46-7. For a different context, see also O’Bryan v. Holy See, 471 F.Supp.2d 784, 794 (W.D. Ky. 2007).

11 U.N.CRC, Report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, ¶ 808, U.N. Doc. A/51/41, June 18, 1996, available at http://www.bayefsky.com/general/a_51_41_biennialreport_ 6th_-_11thsessions_1996.php.

12 Id. ¶ 817.

13 Id. ¶¶ 813-16.

14 Compte rendu rapport initial, supra note 7 ¶ 32.

15 CISMAS, supra note 4, at 228-30.

16 Concluding Observations, supra note 1, ¶ 8.

17 CISMAS, supra note 4, ch. 4.

18 Compare Concluding Observations, supra note 1, ¶ 8 with U.N.CRC, Concluding Observations on the Report Submitted by the Holy See Pursuant to the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, ¶ 3, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/OPSC/VAT/CO/1, Feb. 25, 2014 (containing nearly identical provisions).

19 See CRC, supra note 3, at art. 2.1 (“States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind.” (emphasis added)). Article 19 stipulates the obligation to take all appropriate measures to protect the child from all forms of abuse, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parents, legal guardians or any other person who has the care of the child). Id. at art. 34 (the obligation to take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent unlawful sexual activity, child prostitution and the use of children in pornographic performances and materials). See also M. Milanovic, CRC Concluding Observations on the Holy See, EJIL: TALK!, Feb. 5, 2014, http://www.ejiltalk.org/crc-concluding-observations-onthe-holy-see/.

20 See F. Hampson, The Scope of the Extra-territorial Applicability of International Human Rights Law, in THE DELIVERY OF HUMAN RIGHTS: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF PROFESSOR SIR NIGEL RODLEY, 182 (G. Gilbert, F. Hampson & C. Sandoval eds., 2011).

21 Concluding Observations, supra note 1, ¶¶ 11-14.

22 See id. ¶ 26 (“The Committee also urges the Holy See to make full use of its moral authority to condemn all forms of harassment, discrimination or violence against children based on their sexual orientation or the sexual orientation of their parents, and to support efforts at the international level for the decriminalization of homosexuality.”). See also id. ¶ 61(e) (urging the Holy See to promote the reform of the statute of limitation in third countries where it impedes victims of child sexual abuse from seeking justice and redress).

23 See e.g., id. ¶¶ 54-55, 57(a).

24 Id. ¶ 44(a)-(i).