4 May 2015 - The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child today welcomed South Sudan’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The committee also repeated its call for universal ratification of the Convention, describing ratification as “an important step that brings with it a commitment towards implementation”.

“We applaud South Sudan for ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child, thus becoming the 195th State to do so,” the Committee said in an announcement. “We urge States that have ratified the Convention, now including South Sudan, to fulfil their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all children.”

The Convention, which is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty, was adopted more than 25 years ago and the rights it sets out are as important today as in 1989. These include children’s right to life, to health, to education and to play, as well as the right to family life, to be protected from violence, to not be discriminated against, and to have their views heard.

“We also repeat our call for universal ratification of the Convention and call on the United States and Somalia that have yet to ratify the Convention, to do so,” the statement continued.

It also urged the United States to ratify the three legal instruments that address specific areas of children’s rights, namely the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; the involvement of children in armed conflict; and enabling children to bring complaints of serious violations of their rights to the Committee

The Committee also welcomed South Sudan’s recent ratification of two other key UN human rights conventions and their optional protocols. These are the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.