UNCROC Reporting Briefing

Monitoring Aotearoa New Zealand's compliance with UNCROC
Aotearoa New Zealand ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) on 6 April 1993. Ratification means that a country commits to bringing its laws, policies and practices into line with UNCROC principles. Compliance with UNCROC by a country is monitored through periodic reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee).

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
The Committee holds three sessions of 4 weeks duration each year.  It has 18 independent members, elected in a personal capacity for a 4 year term. States Parties (i.e. countries who have ratified) have the right to nominate one member each.

The Committee receives written information from non-governmental (NGO) sources to obtain a more complete picture of children’s rights in the country. The Committee holds a pre-sessional working group, at which the members of the Committee will meet representatives from a country’s NGOs. The pre-sessional working group reviews the NGO information in the presence of the NGO representatives. The working group draws up a list of issues to be addressed by the State Party when it appears before the Committee.
NGO report from Aotearoa New Zealand

ACYA prepares and presents this report.

The pre-sessional working group is an extremely important opportunity to highlight to the Committee key issues relating to children’s and young people’s rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Committee may then put these issues to our Government, in the session that examines Aotearoa New Zealand’s State Party report.

In the session that examines the Government’s report, the Committee asks questions and puts issues to the Government representatives. It then prepares concluding observations indicating concerns that require specific follow up.

The expected date for submission of the next Government report is May 2015. In the next 12 – 15 months, we will be consulting our members, individuals and organisations working with children and young people. We want to know: to what extent are the rights of children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand being delivered?

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ACYA gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the JR McKenzie Trust, which makes our work possible.