Governments who sign the Convention have to report every five years on making children’s rights a reality in their country.
There is a Committee of experts who look at how countries are making the UNCRC real for children in their countries. The Committee is called the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and meets in Geneva in Switzerland.
When countries make reports, there are a number of steps.
Step 1
The government writes a report that tells the committee how they are making sure that all children in the UK have access to all their rights listed in the UNCRC.
Step 2
It’s not just the government that gets to tell the UN Committee about children’s rights in the UK. Charities that work with and for children and young people write reports about children’s rights in the UK. And, the Children’s Commissioners in Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland write a report as well about children’s rights across the UK.
Step 3
The charities and the Children’s Commissioners go and meet with the UN Committee to discuss their reports.
Step 4
The Committee then sends the government a list of questions it wants to know more about, which the government has to answer in writing.
Step 5
People from the UN Committee come and visit the UK to see for themselves the situation for children and young people.
Step 6
The UK government then has to go to Geneva and meet with the UN Committee, and they are asked questions about what they are doing to protect children’s rights in their country.
Step 7
After this meeting the UN Committee writes a report to the Government which is a list of things that they think need to change to protect children’s rights, these are called the ‘Concluding Observations’.