Child Rights Connect: 30th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Date: 12th February 2019
Category: General measures of implementation
Author: Child Rights Connect

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Since 1989 the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has played a central role to improve the lives of children around the world. The CRC is the most holistic human rights treaty, including social, cultural and economic rights, as well as civil and political rights. It defines every human being below 18 years of age as a holder of human rights, taking into account both protection and empowerment necessary to make this notion a reality for every child.

The former NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child – now Child Rights Connect – has extensively influenced the drafting of the Convention, its Optional Protocols, General Comments and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) Working Methods, and since its adoption has successfully contributed and advocated for its proper implementation worldwide.

30 years after its adoption, the CRC is almost universally ratified – every UN member State has ratified the Treaty, except the United States, who is a signatory. This makes it the most ratified UN Treaty. However, many States still have numerous reservations to some of the CRC articles and its Optional Protocols are still far from universal ratification, especially the Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (OPIC) which entered into force in April 2014 and currently has 42 State parties[1]. Furthermore, the CRC is often forgotten and not implemented in the comprehensive way that it should be. Fundamental and global challenges are at the heart of this: the wide-spread perception of children as passive subjects to be taken care of rather than equal rights holders, the prevalent approach to treat children’s rights as separate from human rights, the lack of attention to children´s civil and political rights; and the increasing questioning and threats to international human rights commitments.Global challenges include climate change, violent conflicts and poverty, increased migration and the rise of artificial intelligence.

The 30^th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a unique opportunity to put children’s rights, the Convention (along with its Optional Protocols) and its relevance for global peaceful development and co-existence high on the international agenda, to assess the status of child rights and take measures to strengthen awareness, understanding and the actual realisation of children’s rights worldwide. It is our chance to take stock of progress until now and set in motion the further strengthening of the child rights movement in our changing global context where human rights are increasingly under threat.

Also, 2019 is the 5^th Anniversary of entry into force of OPIC. This third Optional Protocol to the CRC is the first international complaints procedure giving children the possibility to claim their rights at international level. It is an important complement to the CRC to strengthen the status of children as rights holders, to ensure that children can seek redress if their rights are violated and broadening their possibility to be heard at international level.

Main objectives for Child Rights Connect

As the largest umbrella network on children’s rights with 90 members in all regions, Child Rights Connect will leverage the multitude of activities that its members will undertake at national, regional and international level, by increasing their visibility and by strengthening their impact through connections and advice.

Moreover, Child Rights Connect will steer a series of activities with the aim to:

1. Make the CRC and its Optional Protocols and the CRC Committee’s work more accessible to children so that they can better understand and claim their rights;
2. Facilitate strategic and critical reflections about challenges and achievements of civil society child rights advocacy and engagement with the CRC Committee;
3. Ensure that child participation is central to 30^th anniversary celebrations to further strengthen commitments to and practice of child participation;
4. Promote the universal ratification of the CRC and its Optional Protocols, in particular the Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (OPIC);
5. Strengthen the historical identity of Child Rights Connect as the driver of the drafting of the CRC and the engagement of civil society in the reporting process;

Activities:

1. Make the CRC and its Optional Protocols the Committee’s work more accessible to children so that they can better understand and claim their rights

• Develop the UNICEF’s best single child-friendly version of the CRC together with a children’s advisory team;
• Publish a practical guide for adults on how to develop child-friendly CRC related materials (such as Concluding Observations and General Comments);

2. Facilitate strategic and critical reflections about challenges and achievements of civil society child rights advocacy and engagement with the CRC Committee;

• Develop a study on the global status of the engagement of States, NGOs and children in the CRC reporting process to highlight gaps and the current outlook of the child rights advocacy movement;
• Organise a stock-take exercise with members and key partners to discuss the findings of the study and new joint strategies to be more effective;
• Organise a session within the 30^th anniversary conference in Geneva to facilitate a discussion about the advancement and current shortfalls of the child rights movement.   

• Ensure that child participation is central to 30^th anniversary celebrations to further strengthen commitments to and practice of child participation
• Organise a session within the 30^th anniversary conference in Geneva focusing on children human rights defenders with the active involvement of the Children’s Advisory Team. Engage in other sessions related to child participation;
• Support the child advisors to engage in the UNICEF virtual world summit on children on 20th November;
• Support the initiatives and suggestions that the Children’s Advisory Team might put forward as well as other opportunities for the child advisors’ engagement in relevant activities.

3. Promote the universal ratification of the CRC and its Optional Protocols, in particular the Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (OPIC)

• Follow-up to the 2013 “UP Campaign” and develop a coordinated advocacy action to call for withdrawal of reservations and universal ratification;
• Publish an OPIC ratification toolkit to strengthen national advocacy and campaigns;
• Facilitate exchanges of good practices between States and impulse State-led advocacy for OPIC ratification;

4. Strengthen the historical identity of Child Rights Connect as the driver of the drafting of the CRC and the engagement of civil society in the reporting process;

• Publish information and testimonials about the former NGO Group’s influence on the CRC and other major achievements;

Finally, Child Rights Connect will support and give visibility to all activities undertaken by the CRC Committee, actively engaging the Children’s Advisory Team when relevant.

Partners:

-          All Child Rights Connect members

-          Child Rights Connect Children’s Advisory Team

-          CRC Committee

-          OHCHR

-          UNICEF

-          Association 30 ans droits de l’enfant

-          Key human rights NGO partners, including Amnesty International, CIVICUS, the International Service for Human Rights, URG, etc.  

-          SRSG VAC, SRSG CAAC, SR sale

-          States

[1] As of 10 January 2019