VATICAN CITY – A United Nations-mandated report on compliance with international obligations regarding the protection and rights of children will be ready for submission this autumn, a Vatican diplomat said.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, told Catholic News Service that the report was nearing completion and would probably be presented in September or October.
The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child calls for governments of signatory countries of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to submit a comprehensive review of how convention regulations are being implemented, as well as progress reports every five years. The Vatican is party to the convention and did not send its report when first due in 1997.
The Vatican’s report is awaited with particular interest, especially by some human rights groups, because of report of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy and other church figures.
Amnesty International named the Vatican in its annual report released in May for failing to comply with international obligations regarding the protection of children, including from sexual abuse.