Call for Good Practices on Child Rights Legislative Reform

The UNICEF Human Rights Unit is partnering with the University of Leiden to develop an up-to-date, user-friendly website to guide Governments in incorporating the Convention on the Rights of the Child in their national legislation, including advice on both the process and the content.  

The website will also include recent good practice examples from various legal traditions. We are therefore seeking the contribution of UNICEF country offices and National Committees, as well as civil society and other partners, in identifying such examples, as follows:  

Good practices to look for:  

1. Content: Examples of substantive provisions (in all types of laws including in Constitutions): 

•   Explicitly referencing the CRC and other international standards (please share the references)  
• Recognizing children as subjects of rights 
• Identifying duty bearers 
• Providing for the full scope of rights (civil, political, economic, social and cultural); examples of political rights provisions (such as right to vote or participation in public affairs) would be particular useful.  
• Promoting equality/anti-discrimination (including specific recognitions of children’s right not to be discriminated against) 
• Articulating the best interests of the child  
• Articulating the child’s right to be heard and/or promoting meaningful child participation 
• Ensuring access to justice/right to remedy 

2. Process: Examples of processes that: 

•   Adequately applied a Human Rights Based Approach, including child rights principles 
• Followed a systemic approach (linking for example with other streams of work such as child rights education, awareness raising campaigns, etc.)  
• Used the CRC reporting process, including the recommendations, as a trigger or basis; when the CRC reporting process was not a trigger, we would be interested in knowing what was. 
• Were used to make child rights visible
• Were used to revisit reservations made to the CRC  
• Ensured broad participation of stakeholders, including successful involvement of NHRI and civil society  
• Ensured meaningful child participation  
• Included a successful costing/budgeting exercise 
• Included a successful child rights impact assessment  
• Established successful coordination mechanisms/bodies to lead/coordinate/monitor the review and reform process 
• Involved successful institutional reform/capacity building in the context of the legislative reform  
• Involved success stories in overcoming obstacles/resistance to the reform  
• Established efficient oversight mechanisms, including by Parliaments  
• Ensured efficient monitoring of the reform and making it an ongoing process 

Please share a paragraph describing one or several good practice examples with Anne Grandjean (agrandjean@uicef.org) by 28 February 2023. The HRU and the University of Leiden will then be in touch to confirm the good practice and support the actual documentation of the example.