UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Subject – IR

Context – UN panel says it cannot rule on Greta Thunberg’s climate case

Concept –

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a body of experts that monitor and report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It recognizes a child as every human being under 18 years old.
The Committee also monitors the Convention’s three optional protocols:
- the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict,
- the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
- Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure
The UNCRC is a human rights treaty that sets the political, civil, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children.
It is an international agreement that is legally binding on the members.
It consists of 54 articles that spell out various children’s rights and also the measures governments should take in order to make these rights available to children.
The CRC was adopted by the United Nations in 1989. It entered into force in 1990 after receiving the minimum of 20 ratifications.
It has been ratified by all members of the UN except for the United States. It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the history of the world.
Under the articles of the convention, all parties to it are required to ensure that children’s basic needs are fulfilled and they are able to reach their full potential.

4 core principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child