UN Committee on the Rights of the Child follows third party intervention
Upon invitation by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, a large group of academics submitted a third party intervention in a case against France. On 2 November, the Committee decided to follow the intervention’s main conclusion.
The third party intervention was prepared by Professor Ton Liefaard and Chrisje Sandelowsky-Bosman, together with Dr Gamze Erdem Türkelli (University of Antwerp), Professor Wouter Vandenhole (University of Antwerp) and Dr Meda Couzens (Western Sydney University, former PhD researcher Leiden University).
The core of the submission revolved around the acknowledgement of extraterritorial jurisdiction in relation to the protection of children in refugee camps in Northern Syria. The submission was endorsed by 26 leading legal and other academics from various parts of the world. On 2 November, the Committee on the Rights of the Child published its decision in which it concluded that the children who find themselves in an extremely vulnerable situation in Northern Syria fall within the jurisdiction of France. The complaints on behalf of these children are therefore admissible.
See here for the discussion on the website of the Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory.