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Article 4: States Parties’ implementation obligations

States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation.

-UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Overview of Article 4

Article 4 deals with the nature of the States Parties’ obligations and in consequence it relates “to all the substantive articles of the CRC” [1]. Together with Articles 42 and 44(6), it comprises the heading ‘General Measures of Implementation’ in the States Parties’ periodic reports [1-5].

It imposes on States Parties the obligation to “undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures” necessary for the implementation of the rights enshrined in the CRC and in its Optional Protocols. It qualifies the nature of States’ obligations related to the economic, social and cultural rights internally to the limit of “the maximum extent of their available resources” and if needed through international cooperation.

In guiding States Parties to the CRC to honour their human rights obligations towards children, the Committee in its General Comment no. 5 groups all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures in following categories:

  1. Review of reservations
  2. Ratification of other international human rights instruments – the General Comment no.5 provides a non-exhaustive list of them [6].
  3. Legislative measures include the following:
    1. Status of the CRC in National Legal Systems – Giving legal effect to all rights
    2. Harmonization of the national legislation – Review and amendment of legislation including customary or religious Laws
  4. Justiciability of rights – In cases of violations, effective legal remedies in courts must be available to redress violations.
  5. Administrative and other measures.
    1. A comprehensive national strategy rooted in the Convention
    2. Coordination of implementation of children’s rights
    3. Decentralization, federalization and delegation
    4. Privatization
    5. Monitoring implementation child impact assessment and child impact evaluation, self-monitoring and evaluation as well as external/independent monitoring
    6. Data collection and analysis and development of indicators
    7. Making children visible in budgets – Budget allocation
    8. Training and capacity-building
    9. Cooperation with civil society
    10. International cooperation
    11. Independent human rights institutions in accordance with Paris Principles
Core attributes of Article 4

The core attribute of Article 4 is:

  • General measures of implementation: States Parties’ obligations to ‘undertake all appropriate, legislative, administrative and other measures


Each of these attributes can be measured in terms of structural or process implementation or in terms of outcomes achieved through implementation as outlined in the table below. Some indicators, for instance the structural ones, may be common to all attributes. Others are common to two or more attributes, while some indicators may be relevant to one attribute only. An attempt has been made to balance the use of objective and subjective data indicators as well as qualitative and quantitative ones.

Relevant provisions within the SDGs
  1. Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
    • Target 16.A Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international cooperation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime.
      • SDG indicator 16.a.1 Existence of independent national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles.
  2. Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals.
    • Target 17.2 Developed countries to implement fully their official development assistance commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of ODA/GNI to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries; ODA providers are encouraged to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries.
      • SDG indicator 17.2.1 Net official development assistance, total and to least developed countries, as a proportion of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee donors’ gross national income (GNI).
    • Target 17.3 Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources.
      • SDG indicator 17.3.1 Foreign direct investment (FDI), official development assistance and South-South cooperation as a proportion of total domestic budget.
    • Target 17.15 Respect each country’s policy space and leadership to establish and implement policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development.
      • SDG indicator 17.15.1 Extent of use of country-owned results frameworks and planning tools by providers of development cooperation.
    • Target 17.16 Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries.
      • SDG indicator 17.16.1 Number of countries reporting progress in multi-stakeholder development effectiveness monitoring frameworks that support the achievement of the sustainable development goals.
    • Target 17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.
      • SDG indicator 17.17.1 Amount of United States dollars committed to (a) public-private partnerships and (b) civil society partnerships.
    • Target 17.18 By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts.
      • SDG indicator 17.18.1 Proportion of sustainable development indicators produced at the national level with full disaggregation when relevant to the target, in accordance with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.

Potential sources of data for users of the indicators sets
  • Administrative, budget and performance annual reports/statistics from all relevant ministries
  • Human Rights Institutions
  • Ministry of justice statistics on reparations, compensations
  • Opinion polls / household surveys regarding child rights knowledge
  • Reports/statistics of human rights organizations and institutes, including children’s commissions, office of commissioners or ombudspersons

References used for the overview
  1. Rishmawi, M. (2006). Article 4: The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations. In A. Alen, J. Vande Lanotte, E. Verhellen, F. Ang, E. Berghmans, & M. Verheyde (Eds), A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1st ed. pp. 22-57). Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
  2. United Nations Committee on the Rights of Child. (2015). Treaty-specific guidelines regarding the form and content of periodic reports to be submitted by States parties under article 44, paragraph 1 (b), of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/58/Rev.3). Retrieved from the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights website:  https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/58/REV.3&Lang=en
  3. United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (1996). General guidelines regarding the form and content of periodic reports to be submitted by States Parties under article 44 paragraph 1(b), of the Convention (CRC/C/58), (para. 11-24). Retrieved from the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights website: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2f58&Lang=en
  4. United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (1991). General guidelines regarding the form and content of the initial reports to be submitted by States Parties under article 44, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention (CRC/C/5), (para. 9-11). Retrieved from the United Nations Digital Library website: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/137523#record-files-collapse-header
  5. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully Revised 3rd Ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
  6. United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2003). General comment No.5: General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Arts. 4, 42 and 44, para.6) (CRC/GC/2003/5), (para. 17 & the annex). Retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/docid/4538834f11.html
References used to create indicators

Glossary/key words

Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA)
Child Rights Impact Assessments (CRIA) predict the impact of any proposed law, policy or budgetary allocation which affects children and the enjoyment of their rights (General Comment No. 5, 2003).

National coordinating mechanisms for child rights
“National, including regional commissions that take leadership and responsibility for enhancing cooperation and coordination of UN activities at the regional level, taking into account the special needs and conditions of their respective regions”.

“A national mechanism for reporting and follow-up is a national public mechanism or structure that is 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. It may be ministerial, interministerial or institutionally separate”. (UN-OHCHR, 2016); (Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, n.d.)

Periodic review
Within the context of the CRC, the periodic review refers to the process of the State Party preparing a report periodically (every 5 years) on all their activities in support of children’s rights. Such reports entail 1) all their efforts in reviewing their laws and policies and assuring that they align with the provisions and principles of the CRC, and making amendments to harmonize them with the CRC when needed; 2) developing new laws and legislation to better support children’s rights, and build capacity to act on such laws through the development of, inter alia, appropriate programs, budgetary allocations, and mechanisms of complaint; and 3) outline the impact of all these activities on children’s lives, and their health and development. The State then submits this report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Periodic reviews are used as a tool for accountability, allows for the review of reservations (if they remain or are lifted), highlights the progresses and shortcomings, and builds the capacity to track the actions of governments. The Committee then prepares a document in response to the periodic reports known as the “Concluding Observations” where recommendations are communicated.

Article 4 Indicator Tables

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