General Comments

The Committee produces General Comments to explain the rights contained in the CRC and its Optional Protocols and provide guidance with respect to particular issues. General Comments are key standards that help States improve both the way they write their reports and the way they implement the treaties.

Child Rights Connect raises awareness and promotes the use of General Comments, monitors the development of new General Comments and coordinates substantive inputs from our members to ensure progress of the standards. We also advocate for meaningful inclusion of children’s views in all General Comments and provide advice to the Committee and other stakeholders on how to do this meaningfully. 

The Committee works on the development of a new General Comment or the updating of an old one once at a time.

  • To learn more about General Comments and get advice on how to engage, read our Factsheet: English, Español, Français
  • To read the General Comments, visit the Committee’s webpage

To produce its General Comments, the Committee invites all interested parties to submit their ideas of themes, comment on the concept note and submit contributions.

Draft General Comment No. 27

During its 95th CRC Session, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child decided to dedicate the General Comment no. 27 to Children’s Rights to Access to Justice and Effective Remedies (GC27). The scope and the main objectives of the General Comment are described in the concept note (FR – Note conceptuelle | ES – Nota conceptual).

The Committee provides different opportunities for children and civil society to contribute to the development of the GC27. We encourage our all civil society organisations to engage in this important process, as well as to support children’s participation.

Together with our Children’s Advisory Team and UNICEF, we are developing some child-friendly materials and a methodology to consult with children, available below in English, French and Spanish.

Find below a tentative timeline:  

Opportunities to contribute in the drafting of General Comment No. 27

New! Consultations on the draft (April-June 2025)

Deadline: 30 June 2025

The Committee of the Rights of the Child just published the Draft of general comment No. 27 on children’s right to access to justice and to an effective remedy

1. To support the drafting of General Comment No. 27, the Committee seeks input from all relevant stakeholders on the draft of the general comment and has therefore issued a call for submission available here (Français, Español). The input/comments should provide concrete suggestions on specific paragraphs of the general comment and should be submitted in English, French or Spanish. The deadline is 30 June 2025.

Find more information on the call for submissions here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2025/call-submissions-draft-general-comment-no-27-childrens-right-access-justice (Français, Español).

Background information about the general comment is available here.

2. The Committee also encourages you to contribute organizing national or regional consultations meetings.

Consultations with children:

Please let us know if you are supporting children in this process: Zsuzsanna Rutai rutai@childrightsconnect.org

Consultations with adults and other stakeholders:

  • You can organize national and regional consultation meetings with governmental authorities, the judiciary, professionals, civil society, National Human Rights Institutions if applicable, UN entities and other relevant actors, using the guidance.

Consultations on the Concept Note (May 2024-December 2024) – now closed

The Committee received 315 submissions as well as outcomes from over 141 consultations held on the general comment, of which over 82 consultations involved the participation of at least 7,215 children.

1. To support the drafting of General Comment No. 27, the Committee seeks input from all relevant stakeholders and has therefore issued a call for submission. The deadline for submission was the 23rd of August 2024, therefore it is now closed.

For further details, please read here.

2. The Committee also encourages you to contribute organizing national or regional consultations meetings.

All consultations should be concluded by 31 December 2024, but we really encourage submissions by early December if possible.

Consultations with children:

Consultations with adults and other stakeholders:

  • You can organize national and regional consultation meetings with governmental authorities, the judiciary, professionals, civil society, National Human Rights Institutions if applicable, UN entities and other relevant actors, using the guidance. UNICEF has developed guidance to support you in the organisation of the consultations which is available here.
  • Key outcomes of consultations can be submitted through this online form, which can also be downloaded as a Word document here for reference.
  • Plans for consultations can be specified here to promote collaboration.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact Maria Giulia Vassallo vassallo@childrightsconnect.org.

The launch of the General Comment No. 26 on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change, Monday 18 September 2023, marked a historic milestone because it’s the very first time the Committee on the Rights of the Child has officially recognised children’s rights to live in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. General Comment No. 26 provides authoritative and comprehensive guidance on how environmental challenges directly impact children’s rights and outlines the crucial steps that States must take to ensure that children can grow up in a world that’s not only clean, green, and healthy but also sustainable. Praised by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, David Boyd, as “a vital step forward,” this document represents a long awaited momentum toward securing a better future for our planet and its youngest inhabitants.

It has three major pillars. First, it sheds light on the harmful impacts of the triple planetary crisis, comprised of the climate emergency, the collapse of biodiversity and pervasive pollution on specific rights. Second, it clarifies how environmental protection is beneficial to children’s rights and underscores that children have the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Finally, it specifies that States are responsible not only for protecting children’s rights from immediate harm, but also for foreseeable violation on their end. States can now be held accountable for environmental harm occurring within and outside their borders.

The Committee went from carrying out consultations with over 700 children from 26 countries for GC25 to 16,331 children from 121 countries for GC26, through online surveys, focus groups and in-person national and regional consultations. The newly launched document is the outcome of international and intergenerational engagement as the Committee also received inputs from States, experts, and other stakeholders through two rounds of consultations on the concept note and first draft of the general comment.

The GC26 has been currently translated in the following languages:

Child Rights Connect partnered with Terre des Hommes Germany, one of our member organisations, to contribute to the draft of the child-friendly version of the GC26 which is accessible in the following languages:

Furthermore, Terre des Hommes Germany has produced a child-friendly animation in collaboration with their Children’s Advisory Team.

Our member network has a broad reach and works in every country in the world.

It is unique in its global outreach and its diversity, constituting a strong and credible global voice on children’s rights.

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