Follow-up
The “follow-up” period starts when the Committee issues its concluding observations on the situation of children’s rights in this State and ends when the State submits a new State report to the Committee. During this period, the State concerned is supposed to follow up on the recommendations made by the Committee in its last concluding observations and thus implement positive changes for children’s rights. Overall, the “follow-up” period lasts at least 5 years.
While it is the States duty to be responsible for implementing such changes, children’s rights defenders have an important role to play in maintaining the pressure to act on States and encouraging or supporting action.
Here is an example of a Roadmap (2022-2027) for the civil society follow-up on the CRC Concluding Observations for Cambodia, from the Child Rights Coalition Cambodia (CRC Cambodia).
Frequently Asked Questions About Follow-up
1. What States should do to follow-up?
In its Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, page 15, “The Committee recommends that the State party take all appropriate measures to ensure that the recommendations contained in the present concluding observations are fully implemented.” This is a standard recommendation that the Committee includes in all the Concluding Observations for all countries under the section “Follow-up and dissemination”.
To support States with this task, OHCHR has developed a practical Guide on National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow-up (NMRFs). These are national public mechanisms or structures that are mandated to coordinate and prepare reports to and engage with international and regional human rights mechanisms (including treaty bodies, the universal periodic review and special procedures), and to coordinate and track national follow-up and implementation of the treaty obligations and the recommendations emanating from these mechanisms. They may be ministerial, inter-ministerial or institutionally separate.
However, follow-up is not just a task for government bodies. The judiciary and Parliaments are also State actors who need to contribute to the implementation of the Concluding Observations.
In a judgment (2017), the High Court of South Africa has removed the application of a special defense for reasonable chastisement put forward by parents charged for corporal punishment at home, referring to the Concluding observations on the second periodic report of South Africa (page 27) as follows: “As recently as October 2016, the Committee had cause to comment on South Africa’s second report on the implementation of its obligations under the CRC[51].”
2. What does the Committee on the Rights of the Child do during the follow-up period?
The Committee has no official follow-up procedure or measures to undertake during this period. But the Committee – or rather one of its members (usually one of the country rapporteurs or task force member during the last country session of the State concerned) – can conduct country visits upon the State’s or children’s rights defenders’ request.
During such visits, Committee members can meet with government officials, civil society, children and other stakeholders to discuss the steps that have been taken – or that will be taken – to follow-up on the Committee’s recommendations.
The Committee does not have a budget for these country visits. If you want to invite a Committee member to do a country visit, you need to be able to cover his/her costs and specify that funding will be provided in your invitation.
3. What can I do during the follow-up period?
Once you have analysed the Committee’s Concluding Observations in depth and prioritised the recommendations that support your goals and strategies, your main role as a children’s rights defender is to monitor your country’s actions and encourage the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations.
To fulfill this mission, you can:
- Contribute to the awareness raising of the general public and relevant national stakeholders by circulating the Committee’s Concluding Observations, including to the media, and translating them into the national language if the State did not do it.
- Meet and collaborate with inter-governmental groups in order to lobby ministers and officials to prepare a substantial response and action plan for the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations.
- Work with Parliamentarians so that they can bring the implementation debate in Parliament.
- Produce your own annual reports to assess the State’s progress on the implementation of the recommendations.
- Involve and empower children to participate in your monitoring work.
Child Rights Connect gathered information from NGOs and NHRIs working at national and international levels to produce case studies about their experiences following up on the CRC reporting process. Each study provides a brief explanation about the activities undertaken and the results.
Check our CRC follow-up case studies:
Set of 10 case studies: English – Español – Français
Set of 7 case studies: English – Español – Français
Check the OHCHR practical guide for civil society on how to follow-up to UN recommendations for additional guidance and inspiration.
4. What can other UN bodies do during the follow-up period?
During the follow-up period, it is very likely that the human rights’ situation in your country will be reviewed by another UN body, e.g. by another a treaty body or the Universal Periodic Review.
This means that your country is likely to receive additional recommendations that may reinforce the recommendations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as reinforce your work during the follow-up period.
This also means that other UN bodies can take up some of the recommendations made by the Committee and thus reinforce them.
Check our advocacy tips in the right-hand column of this page for ideas on how to cross-reference UN recommendations and take a holistic approach for the promotion and protection of children’s rights.
Advocacy tips to cross-reference relevant UN recommendations on children’s rights.
- Check our CRC follow-up case studies:
Set of 10 case studies: English – Español – Français
Set of 7 case studies: English – Español – Français
2. Check what other recommendations on children’s rights were made to your State by other UN human rights mechanisms at: http://uhri.ohchr.org/
3. Map and integrate relevant recommendations made by these other mechanisms into your monitoring and action plans for the follow-up period.
4. Use the How to Child Rights Series‘ tool initiated by Save the Children and developed in close collaboration with Child Rights Connect and a range partners on How to Advance Children’s Rights using Recommendations from United Nations and Regional Human Rights Monitoring and Review Processes
5. Analyse whether you want to engage with other UN human rights mechanisms to obtain children’s rights recommendations complementary or additional to those of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Tip: If you decide to engage with other UN human rights mechanisms but would need guidance and support to do so, contact Child Rights Connect at secretariat@childrightsconnect.org.
- All other UN treaty bodies, which review periodically the implementation of your country’s human rights obligations. Check which ones at: http://indicators.ohchr.org/.
- The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council, under which the human rights situation of your country is examined every 4,5 years. Check the UPR dates for your country at: http://www.upr-info.org/en/review
- The Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council, which make general recommendations to all countries on specific thematic issues and may have made targeted recommendations to your country after a country visit.