NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 61 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 62 the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 63 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 64 and the optional protocols to most of these treaties. 65 The first four of these international human rights treaties do not contain the phrase ‘non governmental organisation’ and, therefore, we cannot conclude how this term is to be understood in these documents of universal nature. Regarding the other treaties, in Article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, we may read that states parties to this international treaty are obliged to ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right to participate in “non-governmental organisations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country”. 66 This convention does not specify what is meant by this type of NGO; however, it is possible to presume that political parties may be seen as these associations connected with the political life of a state. The text of Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons withDisabilities, titled ‘Participation in political and public life’, specifies that the states shall guarantee to persons with disabilities, political rights in the form of participation in “non governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country, and in the activities and administration of political parties”. 67 The grammatical interpretation of this provision may lead to the conclusion that the political parties and the NGOs are different subjects. Article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child envisages that its member states are to provide co-operation in any efforts by the “non-governmental organizations co-operating with the United Nations to protect and assist such a child and to trace the parents or other members of the family of any refugee child in order to obtain information necessary for reunification with his or her family.” 68 The key criterion in this description of anNGO is that such an organisation can be understood only as one that cooperates with the UN. This means that ‘NGO’ for the purposes of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the same as the one in the UN Charter 61 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 2716, p. 3. Doc.A/61/448. 62 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 1249, p. 13. 63 Convention on the Rights of the Child. United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 1577, p. 3. 64 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 2515, p. 3. 65 For example, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 2173, p. 222 and Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, New York, 13 December 2006, Doc.A/61/611. 66 Article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 1249, p. 13. 67 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 2515, p. 3. 68 Convention on the Rights of the Child. United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 1577, p. 3.

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