Scroll down to find out more about UN reporting.
Every 6-8 years the UK and devolved governments’ implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is examined by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. NICCY, and the other UK Children’s Commissioners have a key role in informing the Committee as to the situation in Northern Ireland, through engaging directly and submitting written reports.
The current reporting cycle began in 2020 with the submission of ‘shadow’ reports advising the Committee on the issues on which it should ask the UK Government to report. NICCY, along with the Children’s Commissioners in England, Scotland and Wales, produced a joint ‘List of Issues Prior to Reporting’ report. We also engaged with children and young people across the UK to produce a report of the views of children and young people.
The UN Committee then submitted its ‘List of Issues’ to the UK Government, who responded on 16 June 2022:
On 30 November 2022, the Children’s Commissioner in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales submitted an updated joint report in response to the Committee’s questions. This identifies emerging trends and key issues and provides recommendations to improve children’s lives. We also submitted an updated report on the views of children and young people across the UK.
You can also read the press release from the report submission here
Video overview
You can find out more about some of the issues highlighted in the report by watching this video:
The UN Committee will review these reports, along with reports from NGOs and National Human Rights Institutions, and use it to examine how the government is keeping the promises it made when it signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The remaining stages of this reporting cycle are:
You can see the previous work on UN reporting here.