Keeping Child Rights Alive

92 Pages·2013·15.51 MB·English

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A Guide for Plan’s Involvement with
the Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Keeping Child
Rights Alive
A Guide for Plan’s Involvement with
the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Acknowledgements
Author: Laura Theytaz-Bergman, Consultant
Project supervisor: Anne-Sophie Lois, UN Representative and Head of Office, Plan UN
Liaison and Advocacy Office, Geneva, Switzerland
Editor: Alison Graham and Helen Kearney
Cover photo: Plan / Alf Berg. Children learning in class at Hoysang Preschool in Pha Oudom, Laos.
Design and layout by: Damla Süar, Geneva, www.damlasuear.ch
Special thanks to the following people for their input and comments on this Guide:
Laure Abado, Zinnat Afrose, Stefanie Conrad, Karen Craggs- Milne, Monica Darer, Mariama
Deschamps, Veronica Forcignanò, Helena Fransson, Nick Hall, Sarah Hendriks, Yodit Mekuria,
Alexander Munive, Lisa Myers, Samuel Norgah, Sara Philipson, Ruth Santisteban, Karen Schroh,
Rasa Sekulovic, Sara Stevenson, Tanja Suvilaasko, Angela Fjordmark and Ton That Tuan.
The Plan UN Liaison and Advocacy Office in Geneva is ready to help you in the monitoring,
reporting and following-up on the implementation of the CRC. We can give you the
timelines, assist in developing strategies, facilitate visits, and give technical support and
advice. We are here to serve you and to make the concerns of children in your country
heard at the UN through the CRC reporting process.
For more information, please contact us at:
Plan UN Liaison and Advocacy Office
Rue de Varembé 1
1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Plan enhances the rights of the child
Updated in December 2012, this is the 2nd edition of the Guide. It has been endorsed by
the various management decision making bodies within Plan between May and June 2011,
including the Program Leadership Team, the Executive Group and the Global Leadership
Team. It was subsequently presented to the International Board and Plan is now firmly
committed to engaging actively in monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC), NGO report writing and follow-up activities.
Text © Plan 2013. All rights reserved.
Please email Plan at [email protected]
for permission to reproduce, store or transmit any part of this publication.
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1. Overview of CRC Processes and Actors ....................................11
1.1 The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols ...11
1.2 The Committee on the Rights of the Child ....................................16
1.3 Non-Governmental Organizations .................................................19
1.3.1 Child Rights Connect for the Convention on the Rights of the Child ...19
1.4 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) .....................................20
1.5 National Human Rights Institutions ...............................................22
2. Working with National Coalitions or NGO Networks .................25
2.1 Training and Capacity Building ......................................................26
2.2 Substantive Input .........................................................................27
2.3 Ethical and Meaningful Child Participation .....................................27
3. Monitoring Implementation ......................................................... 31
3.1 Data Collection ............................................................................31
3.2 Development of Tools and Materials ............................................33
4. Reporting Process ..................................................................... 35
4.1 State Party Reporting ...................................................................35
4.2 NGO Reporting ............................................................................39
4.2.1 Facilitation and Coordination.............................................................42
4.2.2 Training and Capacity Building ..........................................................43
4.2.3 Substantive Input..............................................................................43
4.2.4 Recommendations ...........................................................................43
4.2.5 Organization of Children’s Participation ............................................44
4.2.6 Financial Support ..............................................................................45
4.3 Pre-Sessional Working Group Meeting and Plenary Session ...........46
5. Dissemination and Follow-up to Concluding Observations .......49
5.1 Dissemination ...................................................................................49
5.2 Follow-up ..........................................................................................49
5.3 Advocacy ..........................................................................................52

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Acronyms
APPR Annual Participatory Program Review
CC Climate Change
CCCD Child-Centred Community Development
CO Country Office
Committee Committee on the Rights of the Child
CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child
CSP Country Strategic Plan
DRM Disaster Risk Management
MER Monitoring, Evaluation and Research
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NHRI National Human Rights Institution
NO National Office (Plan fundraising countries)
POLT Program Operational Leadership Team
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
OP Optional Protocol to the CRC
OPAC Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed
Conflict
OPSC Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
PALS Program Accountability and Learning Systems
POLT Program Leadership Team
TOR Terms of Reference
UN United Nations
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UPR Universal Periodic Review
VAC Violence against Children
6. Ethical and Meaningful Child Participation ..................................53
6.1 Ethical Participation of Children ........................................................53
6.2 Participation in the NGO Coalition Report.........................................55
6.3 Development of a Children’s Report ................................................56
6.4 Participation at the Pre-Session Working Group Meeting ................56
6.5 Visit by Country Rapporteur ..............................................................57
6.6 Participation at the Plenary Session ..................................................58
6.7 Dissemination of the Concluding Observations................................59
6.8 Follow-up to the Concluding Observations .......................................59
6.9 Financial Support ..............................................................................59
7. Useful Mechanisms ........................................................................61
7.1 Days of General Discussion ..............................................................61
7.2 General Comments...........................................................................62
7.3 Human Rights Treaty Bodies ............................................................63
8. Strategic Involvement of Plan .......................................................67
8.1 Organizational Involvement ..............................................................67
8.1.1 Country Strategic Plans (CSPs).........................................................67
8.1.2 Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Framework ...............................68
8.1.3 Advocacy Strategies .........................................................................68
8.1.4 Human Resources Accountability Framework .................................69
8.2 Plan’s Areas of Impact ......................................................................69
8.2.1 Disaster Risk Management in the CRC ............................................71
8.2.2 Follow-up to the UN Study on Violence against Children ................73
8.2.3 Because I Am A Girl Campaign ........................................................74
8.2.4 Promoting Gender Equality...............................................................75
8.2.5 Promoting Birth Registration ............................................................77
8.3 Plan National Offi ces ........................................................................80

9. Support for Plan’s Offi ces ..............................................................83
9.1 Plan UN Liaison and Advocacy Offi ce in Geneva..............................83
9.2 Plan Regional Offi ces........................................................................83
9.3 Plan National Offi ces ........................................................................84
9.4 Plan Country Offi ces .........................................................................85
9.5 Child Rights Connect for the Convention on the Rights of the Child ..............85
9.6 Current and Former Committee Members .......................................85

Conclusion ....................................................................................................87
List of Relevant Tools..................................................................................88
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Children washing their faces in Honduras.
Photo: © Plan / Mark Sarna
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KEEPING CHILD RIGHTS ALIVE
A Guide for Plan’s Involvement with the Convention on the Rights of the Child
involved in the monitoring, reporting and
follow-up to the implementation of the CRC
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and its Optional Protocols through its differ-
ent procedures including its monitoring body
– the Committee on the Rights of the Child
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ooofff ttthhheee ooollldddeeesssttt aaannnddd lllaaarrrgggeeesssttt ccchhhiiillldddrrreeennn’’’sss cacy Offi ce in Geneva (where the Com-
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The foundation of all our work is the UN guidance and technical assistance to Plan
Convention of the Rights of the Child, which offi ces engaging with the CRC monitoring
is why we take a rights-based approach to and reporting processes.2
development and humanitarian response.
The involvement of all Plan offi ces allows
national and international advocacy work
Plan is a leader in the promotion and protec-
to be interlinked and mutually reinforcing,
tion of child rights and is working in over
connecting local programmes with global
90,000 communities in Africa, Asia and Latin
initiatives. Plan Offi ces have the practical
America. Plan works also at the national,
experience, credibility and expertise to help
regional and international levels.1
ensure that the Convention does not exist
solely as a document, confi ned to the halls
As an organisation we believe that child
and corridors of the UN.3
rights can be further enhanced at the national
level by using the UN human rights systems
in general, and in particular by working for
the effective implementation of the Con- This Guide aims to ‘keep child rights
vention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and alive’ by using the CRC as a powerful
its Optional Protocols (OPs). tool to transform children’s daily
realities worldwide.
The CRC is the comprehensive international
treaty setting out children’s fundamental
rights and freedoms. It is the most widely The Guide should be read alongside Plan’s
and rapidly endorsed human rights treaty in programme guide, Promoting Child Rights
history, and it is the primary reference docu- to End Poverty: Achieving Lasting Change
ment for Plan’s work. Through Child-Centred Community Devel-
opment (2010), which outlines Plan’s over-
This guide aims to strengthen and stream- arching, rights-based approach, showing
line Plan’s engagement with the CRC. It is how it contributes to poverty alleviation and
vital that Plan offi ces become systematically the fulfi lment of child rights.
1 One Plan One Goal, Plan’s strategy to 2015, Plan International, 2011, p.4. See One Plan UN Strategy, 2012-2016
2 See One Plan UN Strategy, 2012-2016.
3 Examples of work being done by Plan have been taken from responses to the questionnaires on Plan’s Involve
ment in the CRC Reporting and Monitoring Process and in the Follow-up Work of the Concluding Observations
and Plan’s Best Practices in the CRC Monitoring Cycle.
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‘Gozar de la niñez y sonreir‘ - Enjoy childhood and smile,
Guatemala. Photo: © Plan / Rosa María Carrera
Plan and the CRC • agrees that human rights constitute
the basis for development
The Convention on the Rights of the
cooperation and for measuring
Child is the main reference document
accountability and effectiveness of
for Plan’s work. Plan
development efforts;
• acknowledges that human rights are
• puts special emphasis on children
globally agreed and they are legally
living in poverty and social exclusion;
protected standards that set clear
goals for meeting the needs and • intends to have a signifi cant, lasting
rights of all children; impact on the realization of child
rights.
• acknowledges that the main
obligations for fulfi lling the rights Plan International, Promoting Child Rights to End
of children are of governments and Poverty: Achieving Lasting Change through Child-
secondary or moral duty bearers; Centred Community Development, 2010, pp. 21-22.
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