Article 45: Specialised agencies

Convention text

To improve the implementation of the Convention and to encourage international cooperation:

  1. specialised agencies, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other parts of the United Nations have the right to be present during discussions on provisions of the Convention that relate to their work. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) may invite these organisations to provide advice and submit reports;
  2. the Committee sends the reports of the countries that have signed the Convention to these agencies if they contain requests for technical advice or assistance. The Committee may add its own comments and suggestions to these requests;
  3. the Committee may ask for studies on specific issues relating to the rights of the child. It then advises the General Assembly of the United Nations to ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to carry out these studies;
  4. the Committee may make suggestions and general recommendations based on the information it receives under Article 44 and this Article 45. The Committee sends these suggestions and general recommendations to each country that has signed the Convention. It also shares them with the General Assembly, together with any comments from countries, if available.

Key point

Organisations other than governments can also submit reports to the Committee about how children’s rights are being respected in their country.

Explanation

To understand how children’s rights are being respected in a country, the Committee also asks for information from organisations that work with children and young people. They can provide this information, for example, through a youth report, such as one prepared by the Dutch National Youth Council (Nationale Jeugdraad). Some young people also go to the Committee to explain important issues from such reports.

The Dutch Ombudsman for Children and the Dutch NGO Coalition for Children’s Rights (Kinderrechtencollectief) explain in their reports how well a country is complying with children’s rights and make recommendations for improvement. They do this based on their own findings, the government’s report, youth reports and reports from children’s rights organisations. The government considers these recommendations very important and works on them, but it is not required to follow them.

The Dutch NGO Coalition for Children’s Rights (Kinderrechtencollectief)

In the Netherlands, the Coalition for Children’s Rights prepares reports on behalf of various children’s rights organisations. The organisations in this Coalition for Children’s Rights work together to ensure that the Netherlands complies with the Convention. To do this, the collective looks at areas such as the courts, youth policy, politics, home, schools, childcare, youth care services, asylum reception centres and hospitals.