In March 2020, the Committee on the Rights of the Child held an historic extraordinary in-country/region session for the first time in the Treaty Bodies system in Apia, Samoa.

UNICEF-Child Rights Connect child-friendly version of the CRC Convention

First collaboration of the CRC Committee with a Children’s Advisory Team to organize its DGD, composed of 21 children from all around the world

Report on first Inquiry Procedure against Chile

Committee started implementing the Simplified Reporting Procedure (SRP)

Adoption of Working methods for the participation of children in the reporting process of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

CRC Committee was the first treaty body to conduct the examination of a State party report via video for Tuvalu, 64th session

Optional Protocol to the convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure (OPIC) which allows children to submit complaints regarding violations of their rights and provides for an inquiry procedure for grave or systematic violation of child rights. Entered into force in 2014 first ratified by the…Read More

First annual full-day meeting on the Rights of the Child at the Human Rights Council to discuss, negotiate and adopt a resolution about the specific theme or children’s rights in general (an Omnibus Resolution)

General Comment on the right of the child to be heard

UNHCR Guidelines on Determining the Best Interests of the Child released after two years of field-testing. The Guidelines provided a formal mechanism to determine the best interests of the child as part of a comprehensive child protection system

UN Study on Violence against Children by the appointment of the expert Mr. Paulo Pinheiro the first comprehensive global study conducted on all forms of violence against children, provided a global picture of violence against children and proposed recommendations to prevent and respond to this issue

First children’s reports submitted on Belgium and the United Kingdom

Millennium Summit and Declaration which contained values, principles and objectives for the international agenda for the twenty-first century, and set out eight goals to be achieved by 2015 including eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and reducing child mortality

Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) which strengthens article 38 of the CRC by raising the minimum age of direct participation in hostilities from 15 to 18 and prohibiting anyone under 18 from being compulsorily recruited into the armed forces. Entered into Force in 2002

Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour

Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (ILO 182) adopted by the General Conference for the International Labor Organisation, which defines which situations should be classified as the worst forms of child labor and specifies what governments must do to…Read More

International Conference on Child Labor in Oslo during which a global agenda for eliminating the worst forms of hazardous and exploitative employment of children was adopted and a global strategy for eliminating the most intolerable or extreme forms of child labor was proposed

Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children by the appointed expert Ms. Graca Machel, which described the impact of armed conflict on children and included a number of concrete recommendations for the protection of children in armed conflict

The first experience with children participating in a written submission

First comprehensive alternative report submitted to the CRC Committee by the national coalition the Child Rights Development Unit to inform the consideration of the initial report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which took place in January 1995

First examination by the CRC Committee of the State party reports and first concluding observations for Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Egypt, Russian Federation, Sudan, Sweden, Viet Nam

Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption by the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which protects children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad, and reinforces Article 21 of the CRC as it seeks to ensure that…Read More

First General Day of Discussion of the CRC Committee dedicated to children in armed conflict, followed-up by a preliminary draft of an optional protocol to the Convention which would raise the age of recruitment into the armed forces to 18

First regional meeting of national child rights coalitions held in Lima, Peru to strengthen the child rights movement and focused on monitoring the CRC at national level, followed by Western Europe

First election of 10 members of the CRC Committee by States Parties, who adopted guidelines regarding the form and content of initial reports at its first session

African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child adopted by the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union), entered into force in 1999

UN Rules for Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty reaffirming the Beijing Rules and emphasizing that imprisonment of juveniles should be a last resort and for the shortest possible amount of time

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most comprehensive document on the rights of children, was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly and opened for signature on 20 November, recognizing for the first time children as rights holders in an international treaty. The Convention entered into force…Read More

Formation of the Ad Hoc NGO Group with over twenty NGOs to better influence the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Group would meet to analyze the articles of the Convention and submit changes or the inclusion of new articles to the Working Group.…Read More

Working Group on a draft convention on the rights of the child established by the Commission on Human Rights, open to all members of the UN, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations with consultative status, following a proposal submitted by the government of Poland