State Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.
-UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Overview of Article 42
Beyond the substantive guarantees of child rights set out in Articles 1 to 41 of Part I of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, important State obligations are also set out in a number of the procedural provisions of the treaty under Part II. Part III of the treaty addresses the ratification procedure and entry into force. One of the most important procedural provisions which should be specifically included in State Party reports to the Committee concerning implementation is set out in Article 42, the obligation to make the Convention and children’s rights widely known to adults and children.
In its analysis of State Party Reports Article 42 is clustered with Article 4, and with paragraph 44(6) of the Convention as the key provisions outlining State Party Obligations in relation to General Measures of Implementation. General Comment no 5 sets out the principle requirements of State Parties in meeting these treaty obligations [1]. The UN Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child summarize the comments made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on State Parties’ reports and establishes a list of the purposes of dissemination [2]. It includes ensuring the visibility of children, enhancing respect for them and for democratic institutions, reaffirming the value of their rights, reconciling national laws with the Convention as required, encouraging the protection of the rights of children coming from minorities, changing negative attitude towards children and eradicating harmful cultural practices and prejudices against vulnerable children.
Core attributes of Article 42
The core attribute of Article 42 is:
- Making the Convention widely known
- Educating adults and children alike
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. 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
No relevant SDG provisions have been identified for this article.
Potential sources of data for users of the indicators sets
- Customized school-based surveys
- Customized surveys for health professionals, educators and childcare workers
- Customized surveys for parents
- Human Rights Institutions
- National child rights and wellness surveys
- Surveys of vulnerable populations
- United Nations Treaty Bodies Database
- Universal Human Rights Index
References used for the overview
- United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2003). General comment No. 5 (2003) on the general measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/GC/2003/5), (para. 66-70). Retrieved from the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights website: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4538834f11.html
- United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). (1998). Guidelines for National Plans of Action for Human Rights Education (A/52/469/Add.1). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/Training/Compilation/Pages/GuidelinesforNationalPlansofActionforHumanRightsEducation(1997).aspx
References used to create indicators
- Fundamental Rights Agency, European Union Agency For Fundamental Rights. (2010). Developing indicators for the protection, respect and promotion of the rights of the child in the European Union (Conference Edition). Retrieved from https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/developing-indicators-protection-respect-and-promotion-rights-child-european-union
- Office of the Child and Youth Advocate. (2017). State of the child report, Special focus: Youth criminal justice (ISBN: 978-1-4605-1915-8). Retrieved from https://www.cyanb.ca/parent
- United Nations Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) (2012). Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation (HR/PUB/12/5), (p.174). Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Human_rights_indicators_en.pdf
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully rev. 3rd ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
Glossary/key words
No keywords identified for this article.
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