Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood’

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is applicable with regard to
all persons under the age of 18. But the Committee on the Rights of the Child has noted
regularly when reviewing the reports submitted by states parties that information on
the implementation of the Convention with respect to children before the age of regular
schooling is often very limited. Usually, for these young children, the reports cover only
certain aspects of health care, mainly infant mortality, immunization and malnutrition, and
selected issues in education chiefly related to kindergarten and pre-school. Other important
issues are rarely addressed.
This experience is the reason the Committee decided to devote its Day of General
Discussion 2004 to the topic ‘Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood’. The purpose
of the Day of Discussion was to generate more awareness on this topic and to adopt
recommendations that would be based on the results of the event and would also underscore
the full entitlement of young children to the rights enshrined in the Convention.
The Committee was very pleased with the considerable support of the Bernard van Leer
Foundation and unicef in the organization of the Day of General Discussion, which was held
at Palais Wilson, Geneva, on 17 September 2004.
Around three dozen papers were submitted to the Committee on this occasion. The papers
furnished a great deal of information on the perspectives of a wide variety of organizations
and individuals. unicef, for example, prepared an extremely thorough account of the major
policies and approaches it is executing in favour of ‘early childhood development’, one of
the five priorities set out in its then current ‘medium-term strategic plan’ (2002–2005), but
there were also submissions from organizations as diverse as the Archdiocese of Buenos
Aires, the Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers), Human Rights Watch,
sos Kinderdorf International, which gives family-based care to children who are unable
to live with their parents, the srg Welfare Society, which works mainly among Bangladesh
communities to support the rights of indigenous and minority people, and the Commission
on Early Childhood of the City of Geneva. Indeed, the range and depth of the contributions
at the Day of General Discussion seemed to confirm that the Committee had done well to
choose a topic revolving around child rights in early childhood.
It is the Committee’s policy to make, when appropriate, maximum use of the results of
a Day of General Discussion. That is why the Committee decided to elaborate on ideas
and issues related to the Day of General Discussion 2004 in a General Comment with the
aim of supplying states parties with more detailed information and guidance regarding
the implementation of children’s rights in early childhood. The Committee considered a
first draft in May 2005 and, after broad consultation with interested parties and experts,
the Committee discussed proposed revisions and, on 30 September 2005, adopted General
Comment 7. The Committee is grateful for the crucial support provided during this drafting
process by the Bernard van Leer Foundation. It is likewise appreciative of the generous
contribution of Professor Martin Woodhead, who was invited by the Committee to act as
special advisor during the preparation of the General Comment.
The plan to publish the present monograph grew out of consultations between the
Committee and the Bernard van Leer Foundation during the course of these events. It was
realized that a book documenting the drafting of a General Comment by the Committee
would represent something of an innovation because of the insights it could offer into
viii
the significance of these key interpretive documents and the nature and functions of the
Committee.
The volume describes the background of the Day of General Discussion held on
17 September 2004 and contains, in extracted form, the papers submitted to the Committee
at that time, along with other relevant material. It also presents the General Comment that
was the outcome. Each section includes an introduction with additional information on the
process.
We hope that this book might aid child’s rights advocates at the local level, human rights
activists, particularly those with no special legal knowledge, and the general reader interested
in child rights, human rights and the United Nations, including university students and
researchers in law, social work, international relations, or other, associated areas.
We hope also that the publication of this monograph will encourage more research into
the work of the Committee, the effects of the Convention on the protection of rights within
countries through the adoption of positive policy changes, the enactment of favourable
laws, the recognition of these rights before courts, and other worthy efforts in many places
throughout the globe to advance children’s rights as human rights.

Jacob Egbert Doek
Chairperson,
United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child

DOWLOAD FILE