Volume 03 Issue 01-2023
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International Journal Of Law And Criminology
(ISSN
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ABSTRACT
This article deals with issues of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, to explore how to monitor
and evaluate States Parties’ compliance with the obligations they undertook when they ratified the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Grounded in this work to provide a conceptual framing of the Convention, through
the identification of the attributes of each child’s right that provides the basis for the development measure to
implement and enforcement.
By contrast, children’s rights are a set of universal standards in formal entitlement to
their fulfilment and corresponding obligations on those providing that guarantee. They can be measured both in terms
of actions undertaken by duty bearers on behalf of children and the consequent impact of those actions in ensuring
the realization of the rights in the CRC.
KEYWORDS
Children, children’s rights, monitoring, implementation, enforcement, CCPR, CESCR, ESC, CEDAW, UNICEF, ILO, WHO,
UNESCO, UNCHR, Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), Committee on the Rights of the Child, NGO, Concluding
Observations, Optional Protocols.
INTRODUCTION
Children, as much as adults, are covered by the existing
human rights treaties, for example the two UN
Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) and on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).
Research Article
ISSUES OF MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE CONVENTION OF
THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Submission Date:
January 16, 2023,
Accepted Date:
January 21, 2023,
Published Date:
January 26, 2023
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/ijlc/Volume03Issue01-06
Shahnoza K.Ganibaeva
Phd In International Law Associate Professor Of The Training Law Center Under The Ministry Of Justice Of The
Republic Of Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ijlc
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 03 Issue 01-2023
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International Journal Of Law And Criminology
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VOLUME
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Servi
Moreover, there are special provisions in these and
other treaties relating to children in particular, by
implication or even explicitly. For instance, the CESCR
recognizes in Article 13 the right of everyone to
education. It prescribes, inter alia, that primary
education shall be compulsory and available free to all.
Similarly, the provisions on the right to health for
everyone in Article 12 of the CESCR also entail that
governments should take steps to reduce infant
mortality and provide for the healthy development of
the child. Additionally, Article 10(3) of the CESCR
addresses in the question of economic and social
exploitation of children and child labor. On a regional
level, Article 7 of the European Social Charter (ESC)
contains similar, although somewhat more detailed,
norms. More concrete regulations, relating to child
labor are codified in the conventions adopted by the
International Labor Organization (ILO), in particular in
the Minimum Age Convention (No. 138).
Discrimination of girls is indeed one aspect of the
Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW). One obligation expressed therein
is that measures should be taken to reduce female
drop-out rates in the schools (Article 10(f)). The
CEDAW also contains provisions aiming at protecting
the woman as a mother during and after pregnancy.
Family education should, according to Article 5(b) of
the CEDAW, make clear 'the common responsibility
of men and women in the upbringing and
development of their children, it being understood
that the interest of the children is the primordial
consideration in all cases.
THE MAIN FINDINGS AND RESULTS
In the late 1970s, it was decided w within the United
Nations to draft a specific convention on children's
rights. In 1989, after 10 years of drafting, a
comprehensive list of human rights relating to children
was adopted. The text of the CRC includes child
related provisions from other human rights treaties,
as well as novel aspects about the survival, protection
and development of children, and provisions for
other rights including the right to participation.
By the way, a first international text legally persuasive
in the field, the convention and its protocols impose
obligations on the States, which ratified them.
Consequently, therefore, the state parties are required
to respect and to enforce all the method is which
dedicate these judicial instruments. Therefore, they
respect the rights of the children, particularly across
their institutions of protection and maintenance of
childhood.
In other words, they also have to establish a protective
border for all children on their territory, being part or
not of this jurisdiction. Although this will assure the
respect of all their fundamental rights.
By its very nature the Convention of the Rights of the
Child (CRC) supports the position that all rights are
indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. This has
been further amplified by the holistic approach the
Committee on the Rights of the Child has taken in its
monitoring activity.
Most Articles of the Convention have elements of
protection, participation and development; they are
kin to both of the Covenants. Additionally, the
Convention involves UN bodies and non-governmental
organization (NGO’s) in the monitoring and
implementation efforts.
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Monitoring of the implementation of the CRC outside
the State Party of the CRC is primarily carried out by the
CRC Committee through the State Parties’ reporting to
and having dialogue with the Committee. There is no
individual complaints procedure as with some of the
other UN conventions. The Committee now has 18
members, all elected by the State Parties, which for
this Committee is nearly the equivalent of the UN
General Assembly.
According to Article 43(2) the members shall be
“experts of
high moral standing and recognized
competence in the field covered by this Convention»,
and they «shall serve in their personal capacity” [1].
Independence is not expressly mentioned, and being a
civil servant has not been a hindrance for election. This
has been criticized by among others Amnesty [2].
However, the members of the Committee have agreed
that they would refrain from participating in any aspect
of the considerations of the reports submitted by their
own State, except for correcting obvious mistakes as
regards facts.
On concern of the UN Committee on the Rights of the
Child, appointed to monitor the implementation of the
CRC, has been the risk that it itself will be seen as role
div responsible for monitoring the situation of
children. The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights
in Vienna expressed the same concern, recommending
that human rights of children be regularly reviewed by
all relevant organs and mechanisms of the United
Nations system and by the supervisory bodies of the
specialized agencies [3].
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has sought a
catalytic role in relation to these other bodies. One
positive example is the cooperation with the ILO. The
latter has stepped up its efforts for combating
hazardous child labor and the Committee on the Rights
of the Child, in turn, recommends governments to
ratify the relevant ILO conventions and thereby be
party to the ILO reporting system. At the time of
writing there are also plans for improving the
coordination between the various UN treaty bodies.
The International procedures designed to monitor the
implementation of CRC are not very different from
those established in relation to the other UN human
rights treaties. The CRC provides for a reporting
procedure, and, like other treaty monitoring bodies,
the Committee has issued guidelines as to the contents
and the structure of these reports. The consideration
of the reports is followed by a public statement,
‘Concluding Observations’, with its findings and
recommendations [4].
These discussions are prepared a couple of months in
advanced during a preparatory ‘Working Group’
meeting. These preparatory discussions are closed but
UN agencies and bodies take part as well as non-
governmental organizations, if invited. The purpose of
these discussions is to pull together all existing
information about the status of children in the
respective country for an assessment of the State party
report. The immediate result is a ‘List of Issues’ sent to
the government outlining questions for discussion.
Nowadays the Committee wants written replies before
the plenary discussion so that the oral dialogue can
concentrate on the most essential points [5].
It is still too early to evaluate the procedures; the first
State party reports were discussed in January 1993.
Most of the reports have been detailed, informative
and well in line with the reporting guidelines. Several
UN agencies and bodies, for example UNICEF, ILO,
WHO, UNESCO and UNCHR, have taken an active part
in the work. The participation of NGO’s has bee
n
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essential. The constraints so far have related to the
unprecedented work load of the Committee.
The workings of the Committee are, though, not the
most important aspect of the monitoring and
enforcement efforts. The national procedures are
more crucial, that is where the discussion could be
sufficiently detailed and well informed to spur genuine
improvements. In fact, much of the work of the
Committee aims at encouraging a good national
process. Another intended side-effect is the catalyzing
of international organizations to integrate the
principles and provisions of the Convention into their
programs. In that, the Committee has an advocacy role
not very different from the NGO community.
Naturally, the Committee also wants to set a good
example for monitoring on the national level. The
issues it raises with State party representatives will
ideally have repercussion in the national discussions
later on. It is already clear that the definition of the four
general principles has affected the follow-up in several
countries, as has the emphasis on non-discrimination
and the General Measure of Implementation, including
on Article 4. In the same spirit, the Committee has tried
to develop its thinking on how to measure progress
and initiated an internal discussion on economic and
social indicators [6].
In the of health and education the Committee’s
discussions have benefited from the goals adopted at
the World Summit; progress in achieving them is
consistent with the Convention and reflects a political
will for the rights of the child. Yet, the Committee is
groping with fundamental problems on how to
meaningful discuss government performance in
relation to the Convention. For instance, it still lacks a
technique for evaluating in a competent manner the
official budgets and their provisions for children.
At the same time, the Committee has to be aware of
the fact that the Convention, like the other UN human
rights treaties, is defining individual rights. Though
there is no procedure for individual complaints in
relation to this Convention, the Committee cannot stay
rested with only global trends. The answer has been to
focus more on especially vulnerable groups of children
and emphasize the aspect of non-discrimination. While
welcoming a high general rate of, for instance, school
attendance, the Committee tends to focus on those
who drop out: who are they and what could be done to
protect their rights?
Another factor of importance in the monitoring is the
precise nature of the State party obligations [7]. The
approach of the Committee has been to assume that
the intention is to achieve results; it has therefore
focused on the concrete situation of the children
concerned and asked whether the rights set forth in
the Convention are indeed reflected in their daily lives.
The CRC incorporates all human rights for children
and could be seen as a reflection of the fact that
ail rights are indivisible interdependent and
interrelated. The Convention requires, in most cases,
governments to respect the defined rights; they
contain obligations to protect children and in
several Articles, especially those related to economic
and social rights, they call on State parties to take
measures in order to fulfil the needs.
The Convention is, like the other UN human rights
treaties, based on the notion of rights for individuals.
The overwhelming scope of the problems facing
children, not least in the fields of health and
education, tends to undermine the possibility of an
individual case approach. However, on top of the
information on trends and measures taken for
general improvements in the circumstances for
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children, the UN Committee seeks data about the
situation of especially vulnerable groups of children.
The emphasis on nondiscrimination is important in this
context.
The CRC adds a legal dimension and a ‘philosophy’
about the rights of the child. Its principles about the
best interests of the child, respect for the views of
the child, the right to survival and development and
about nondiscrimination are important.
In order to build a basis for a meaningful discussion
about the degree to which a government has lived up
to its obligations under the Convention, the UN
Committee has found it necessary to start
developing social, economic and other indicators as
yardsticks of progress. This is an area in which further
discussion is essential.
The problem of resource limitations is addressed in the
Convention, itself. The rights to health care and
education could be provided for progressively.
However, governments
–
irrespective of their
economic standard
–
should use their available
resources to the maximum extent to meet the needs
of children.
The evaluation of the concrete realization of that
obligation is one of the challenges for the Committee
on the Rights of the Child.
The basic approach of the monitoring procedures is
constructive. One of the aims
–
and obligations
–
in the
Convention is to develop international cooperation to
mobilize resources for the promotion and protection
of the rights of the child. Thereby, the Convention
could also be an instrument for introducing the
concept of rights in the development programs.
On the whole, it seems that the CRC has contributed
to a renewed and
more positive discussion about economic, social and
cultural rights in general. The above-mentioned
decision at the 1993 World Conference on Human
Rights in Vienna to recognize the importance of
these rights was probably aided by the
developments reflected by the World Summit for
Children, the adoption of the CRC and the activities
of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
It is significant that UNICEF stated its support for this
package of rights in Vienna thereby challenging
governments which earlier had preferred to see these
rights as 'ambitions' rather than genuine rights.
Governments that ratify the Convention or one of its
Optional Protocols must report to the Committee.
In reviewing States' reports, the Committee looks at
how well governments are setting and meeting the
standards for the realization and protection of
children's rights as outlined in the Convention or
Optional Protocol. Along with this regular reporting,
the Committee may request additional information or
complementary reports.
CONCLUSION
In its reviews, the Committee provides implementation
and improvement recommendations to each individual
State, which it will review the next time the country is
examined. It urges all levels of government to use the
Convention as a guide in policy-making and legislation.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20
November 1989 was one of the first international
instruments to which the Republic of Uzbekistan
acceded, with parliamentary ratification on 9
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December 1992. Uzbekistan development of its
National Plan of Action for Child Well-being, which aims
to increase the Government’s capacity to implement
the Convention, and the establishment of the National
Inter-sectorial Working Group (IWG) for Child Well-
being for overseeing the implementation and
monitoring of the Convention.
REFERENCES
1.
Gudmundur
Alfredsson
et
al.
(eds.),
International Monitoring Mechanisms: Essays
in Honor of Jacob Th. Möller. 2nd rev. edn.
Copyright Koninklijke Brill NV. Printed in The
Netherlands. ISBN 978 90 04 16236 5 р.p. 109
-
116
2.
United Nations Proposals to strengthen the
Human Rights Treaty Bodies, AI Index: IOR
40/018/2003.
3.
Vienna Declaration and Program of Action, UN
doc. A/CONF.157/23, part II, para 51
4.
Concluding Observations’: https://www.unicef
-
irc.org/publications/pdf/iwp_2009_22.pdf
5.
M.Santos
Pais, ‘General Introduction to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child: From Its
Origins to Its Implementation’, Selected Essays
on International Children’s Rights, 1993, p.p. 8
-
12.
6.
For general discussion on indicators: K.
Tomasevski,
‘Indicators’:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/520863
7.
A.Eide. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as
Human
Rights:
https://www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/23652.pdf
