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General Comment 7
Implementing child rights in early childhood
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's General Comment 7: Implementing child rights in early childhood explains how the Convention on the Rights of the Child should be interpreted when it comes to very young children. General Comments are formal statements in which the UN Committee on the Rights of Child, which is composed of independent experts elected by state signatories to the CRC, advise on how the CRC should be interpreted. While not legally binding, they are widely regarded as authoritative.
The CG was included in the group of early childhood specialists the Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF) was instrumental in bringing together to inform the deliberations of the Committee. UNICEF, the CRC Committee and BvLF, published, A Guide to General Comment 7, containing extracts from the papers that the Committee considered when drafting GC7.enables readers to explore in further depth the thinking behind how child rights apply to young children:
UN 2010 Secretary General's Report on the CRC and Third Committee Omnibus Resolution (A/65/452)
The UN Secretary General's Status of the CRC report of August 2010 focuses specifically on early childhood which was followed by an adoption of the Third Committee Omnibus Resolution (A/65/452) at the UNGA 65th Session in December 2010. The General Assembly allocates to its Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee, commonly referred to as the "Third Committee", agenda items relating to a range of social, humanitarian affairs and human rights issues.
The Resolution reaffirms the committment of State Parties to the promotion and protection of the rights of children, including specific recommendations and strategies for implementing child rigths in Early Childhood - see pages 8 to 14.
Both documents were based on the CRC's General Comment 7 (GC7) which had laid the ground for implementing the CRC in Early Childhood.
GC7 Indicators Working Group
The GC7 Indicators Working Group convened in 2008 and includes WHO, UNICEF, UNCRC Committee, HELP, the Consultative Group, Aga Khan Foundation, etc has developed and is piloting monitoring indicators, (initiated in Tanzania and currently being piloted in Chile) which aims to assist countries, policy makers and implementers to assess, analyze and report on implementing CRC in the early childhood years. Stay tuned for updates on the work of the GC7 Indicators Working Group.
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