Initial Report

Two years after a country ratifies the UNCRC, it has to submit an initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the steps it has taken to implement the Convention.

• Read the UK’s initial report here.
  

Periodic Report

Every state that has ratified the UNCRC is required to report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) on how it is fulfilling its obligations under the Convention.  The periodic report should enable the Committee to make a comprehensive assessment of the progress the state is making in implementing the Convention.  This process should happen once every five years.

• Read more details about the stages of the UNCRC reporting cycle here.

As the UK Government is the State Party which is examined by the Committee, the Scottish Government produces a report that feeds into the overall UK Government report.  The last periodic report was produced in 2014, ahead of the Committee’s examination of the UK in 2016.

• Read the UK’s 2014 report to the Committee here.
• Read the Scottish Government’s submission to the 2014 UK report here.

Shadow Reports

As well as State Party reports, the Committee will also invite shadow reports to be submitted from civil society which provide a non-governmental perspective of how the UNCRC is being implemented.  Together submits shadow reports on behalf of children’s organisations across Scotland, and works closely with equivalent children’s rights alliances in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to collate a UK NGO report.

• Read Together’s shadow report here (2015).

Following the State and shadow reports, the Committee publishes a list of issues which highlights the most pressing child rights concerns that have arisen from the reports. 

State parties are then able to respond to this list of issues, and civil society is given the opportunity to update their shadow reports to reflect the list.

• Read the Scottish Government’s response to the 2015 list of issues here.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child considers the reply from the State party and information received from other stakeholders - such as NGOs. The Committee and a delegation of State party officials then meet in Geneva for a dialogue to discuss the key issues raised. This is an opportunity for the Committee to ask questions of the State delegation and clarify any points. The dialogue forms the basis of the Concluding Observations. 

The Committee on the Rights of the Child considers all evidence submitted to it by governments and other bodies.  It then drafts Concluding Observations on the country it is examining.  These recommendations set out the Committtee’s assessment of progress in implementing the Convention and highlights areas of concern. 

• Read the Committee’s Concluding Observations to the UK (2016).

Following previous reporting cycles to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the UK and Scottish Governments have produced children’s rights action plans which lay out how they intend to take forward the Concluding Observations.  The ‘Do the Right Thing’ Action Plan, published in 2009, focussed on 21 key areas of work such as tackling child poverty.

• ‘Do the Right Thing’ Action Plan
• ‘Do the Right Thing’ Progress Report (2012)

The Scottish Government also contributed to the UK Government’s 2009 Action Plan.

• Read ‘Working Together, Achieving More’ here (2009).

However, since the 2016 Concluding Observations have been published there has been no action plan produced by either the Scottish or UK Governments.

In September 2018, the Minister for Childcare and Early Years in Scotland will produce a plan of how Scottish Government will further children’s rights over the next three years.  She has been working with children and young people, as well as children’s organisations, across Scotland to develop this report.  It is hoped the report will address the UN’s 2016 recommendations.