3. States Parties shall seek to promote the establishment of laws, procedures, authorities and institutions
specifically applicable to children alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law,
and, in particular:
(a) The establishment of a minimum age below which children shall be presumed not to have the capacity
to infringe the penal law;
(b) Whenever appropriate and desirable, measures for dealing with such children without resorting to
judicial proceedings, providing that human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected.
4. A variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision orders; counselling; probation; foster
care; education and vocational training programmes and other alternatives to institutional care shall be
available to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well-being and proportionate
both to their circumstances and the offence.
Article 41
Nothing in the present Convention shall affect any provisions which are more conducive to the realization of
the rights of the child and which may be contained in:
(a) The law of a State party; or
(b) International law in force for that State.
PART II
Article 42
States Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by
appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.
Article 43
1. For the purpose of examining the progress made by States Parties in achieving the realization of the
obligations undertaken in the present Convention, there shall be established a Committee on the Rights of
the Child, which shall carry out the functions hereinafter provided.
2. The Committee shall consist of ten experts of high moral standing and recognized competence in the
field covered by this Convention. The members of the Committee shall be elected by States Parties from
among their nationals and shall serve in their personal capacity, consideration being given to equitable
geographical distribution, as well as to the principal legal systems.
3. The members of the Committee shall be elected by secret ballot from a list of persons nominated by
States Parties. Each State Party may nominate one person from among its own nationals.
4. The initial election to the Committee shall be held no later than six months after the date of the entry into
force of the present Convention and thereafter every second year. At least four months before the date of
each election, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall address a letter to States Parties inviting
them to submit their nominations within two months. The Secretary-General shall subsequently prepare a
list in alphabetical order of all persons thus nominated, indicating States Parties which have nominated
them, and shall submit it to the States Parties to the present Convention.
5. The elections shall be held at meetings of States Parties convened by the Secretary-General at United
Nations Headquarters. At those meetings, for which two thirds of States Parties shall constitute a
quorum, the persons elected to the Committee shall be those who obtain the largest number of votes and
an absolute majority of the votes of the representatives of States Parties present and voting.
6. The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years. They shall be eligible for
re-election if renominated. The term of five of the members elected at the first election shall expire at the
end of two years; immediately after the first election, the names of these five members shall be chosen by
lot by the Chairman of the meeting.
7. If a member of the Committee dies or resigns or declares that for any other cause he or she can no longer
perform the duties of the Committee, the State Party which nominated the member shall appoint another
expert from among its nationals to serve for the remainder of the term, subject to the approval of
the Committee.
8. The Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure.
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