UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: reporting process
Every state that has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is required to report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on how it is fulfilling its human rights obligations. The basis for the committee's review is a report submitted by the state party two years after it has ratified the convention. After that, progress reports are required every five years.
The UK first reported to the UN on 15 March 1994, producing its second report on 14 September 1999. The UK's next report on the UNCRC will be submitted to the committee in July 2007.
Click for more information on the forthcoming UK report or read below for more information on previous reports.
Initial report
After a country ratifies the convention, it is required to submit an initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The initial report outlines measures the country has taken to implement convention.
Periodic report
Approximately every five years thereafter, each country must submit a periodic report. The periodic report should enable the Committee on the Rights of the Child to make a comprehensive assessment of progress in that state relating to the implementation of the convention.
Independent human rights institutions
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is keen to hear from independent human rights bodies. Before it examines a state party (the government), the committee holds a 'pre-sessional' working group where it hears from independent human rights institutions (including children's commissioners and ombudspeople), non-governmental organisations and children and young people.
Non-governmental organisations
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as national charities, and international bodies such as UNICEF, are encouraged to submit reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child about the implementation of the convention in a particular country. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the only international human rights treaty that expressly gives NGOs a role in monitoring its implementation. The Committee on the Rights of the Child prefers NGOs to work together in coalitions and to submit co-ordinated reports.
Children and young people
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is keen to hear from children and young people about the implementation of their rights. NGOs have a critical role in supporting children and young people to submit their views and experiences to the committee. Governments too must obtain children's and young people's views about how well their rights are respected.
Concluding observations
The UN 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 has assessed. These set out the committee's assessment of progress in implementing the convention in that country, and areas of concern. The committee's latest concluding observations of the UK were published in October 2002 (see below).
The government is not expected to formally respond to the concluding observations, but should address the issues in its next periodic report to the committee.
UK timetable
| 19 April 1990 | Signed the convention |
| 16 December 1991 | Ratified the convention |
| 15 March 1994 | Submitted initial state report |
| 24 January 1995 | The UN responded to our initial report |
| 14 September 1999 | Submitted second periodic report |
| 19 September 2002 | The UN responded to the second periodic report |
| 15 July 2007 | Submit next periodic report |
More information
Visit the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's website for more information on the convention, the processes involved and for reports from other countries. You can download guidance, called General Comments, from the committee about different aspects of children's human rights.
UNICEF has published an Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The handbook examines each article of the convention, what it means, what states are required to do, how states can monitor progress, and what the Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended (generally and to individual countries). It also gives examples of best practice.
Documents
UK
Initial Report (1994)
UN First
Concluding Observations (1995)
UK Second
Report (1999)
UK
Update to Second Report (2002)
UN Second
Concluding Observations (2002)
Overseas territories and crown dependencies
British overseas territories are not part of the United Kingdom but come under its sovereignty. These territories include Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Montserrat, St Helena and its dependencies (Ascension and Tristan da Cunha), the Pitcairn Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. They ratified the UNCRC from 1997.
Crown dependencies fall under the sovereignty of the British Crown but have a different constitutional relationship with the UK than overseas territories. The Isle of Man is the only crown dependency to ratify the UNCRC.
The last reports submitted to the committee on the implementation of the convention by the crown dependencies and overseas territories can be downloaded below. Please note that the Falkland Islands submitted their report separately from the other Overseas Territories, but they were examined by the committee at the same time. The concluding observations include the Falkland Islands.
Documents
Overseas Territories Report 1999
Overseas Territories Report 1999 Falkland Islands
Overseas Territories Report - Concluding Observations 2000
Isle of Man Report 1998
Isle of Man Report Concluding Observations 2000
This page was last updated on 04 October 2006
