Article 44: Obligation to report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child

Convention text

1.

The countries that have signed the Convention must submit reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee). They do this through the Secretary-General of the United Nations. These reports describe the measures they have taken to implement the Convention and the progress made in the field of children’s rights. They must submit these reports:

1. within two years after the Convention has entered into force in that country;
2. every five years after that.

2.

The reports must include all factors that affect the implementation of the rights in the Convention. They must also contain enough information to enable the Committee to understand how a country applies the Convention.

3.

A country that has submitted a full report to the Committee does not need to repeat basic information from that report in later reports.

4.

The Committee may ask countries to provide additional information about the implementation of the Convention.

5.

The Committee reports every two years on its activities to the General Assembly of the United Nations, through the Economic and Social Council.

6.

The countries must ensure that the reports are accessible within their country.

Key point

The government must produce a report every five years on how the Convention is being implemented.

Explanation

Every five years, the government must prepare a report. This report explains how the country is complying with children’s rights under the Convention and whether there are any problems. The government must send this report to the Committee.

The Committee itself prepares a report every two years. It must send this report to the United Nations. If the report shows that a country is not fully complying with the Convention, that country must take measures to ensure that it does comply.

Reports by non-governmental organisations

The Dutch Ombudsman for Children also submits reports to the Committee. Non-governmental organisations may also submit reports to the Committee. A non-governmental organisation works for society but is not part of the government. In the Netherlands, the Dutch NGO Coalition for Children’s Rights (Kinderrechtencollectief) prepares these reports on behalf of 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.

Further reading

Would you like to read the reports that the Netherlands has submitted to the Committee? Visit the UN reporting page on kinderrechten.nl.