Monitoring the Convention of Rights of the Child

Gras, Jutta
Erik Castrén Institute Research Reports 8/2001 Forum Iuris, Helsinki 2001.

Few international legal instruments have been so warmly embraced by the international community as the Convention on the Rights of the Child; yet, as UNICEF reminds us, more than half a billion children live in unstable and dangerous situations. This raises questions as to how effectively the Convention is implemented and monitored, and in particular how its monitoring body (the Committee on the Rights of the Child) operates in practice. This latter question is exhaustively analyzed by Ms Jutta Gras in her impressive report. While critical of the Committee's role so far, the tone of the work is constructive. Accordingly, Ms Gras concludes the study by presenting a number of suggestions for improving the functioning of the Committee.