The Committee on the Rights of the Child

In one line

Articles 42 to 45 require States to make the Convention widely known, establish the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and require periodic reports, and the Committee's examination of India has repeatedly identified the same subjects the domestic critique identifies.

The four articles

Article 42. States Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.

That obligation is unusual and is worth noticing. Most treaties do not require the State to publicise them, and this one requires publicity to children themselves, which follows from article 12: a child who does not know they may be heard cannot ask to be.

Article 43. Establishes the Committee on the Rights of the Child, of eighteen experts of high moral standing and recognised competence in the field, elected by States Parties from among their nationals and serving in their personal capacity, with consideration given to equitable geographical distribution and to the principal legal systems.

Article 44. States undertake to submit reports within two years of entry into force for the State and thereafter every five years, indicating factors and difficulties, if any, affecting the degree of fulfilment, and the Committee may request further information. Reports are to be made widely available to the public in the State.

Article 45. Provides for the participation of the specialised agencies and other competent bodies, permits the Committee to transmit to those bodies any report indicating a need for technical advice or assistance, to recommend that the General Assembly request the Secretary-General to undertake studies, and to make suggestions and general recommendations.

The Committee's outputs

Three, and they should be distinguished.

Concluding observations on a State's report, identifying positive aspects, principal subjects of concern and recommendations.

General comments, which interpret the Convention's provisions for all States Parties and are the principal source of authoritative interpretation.

And days of general discussion and studies, which shape the development of the subject.

None of them binds, and their weight is that of the body the Convention establishes to supervise it.

What has been said to India

The recurring subjects of concern are worth naming, because they demonstrate the convergence this module keeps finding.

Child labour, and the article 32 declaration, with recommendations to withdraw it and to prescribe minimum ages.

Children in conflict with law, particularly on the age of criminal responsibility and on the treatment of children tried as adults for heinous offences under the 2015 Act.

Corporal punishment, and the recommendation of an explicit prohibition in all settings.

Child marriage.