Reporting on children’s rights.
Reporting = an opportunity to assess and make progress for children and tamariki.
Reporting is a way to focus our collective advocacy for children and tamariki in Aotearoa. It is an opportunity to reflect on what progress has been made, and what more needs to be done to meet Aotearoa’s commitments, under the Children’s Convention, to advance children’s rights and enhance their wellbeing.
Every five years Aotearoa reports to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child about the situation for children in this country.
In 2022, the UN Committee is due to consider how well Aotearoa is upholding children’s rights and what has changed for children over the last 5 years. This will be our 6th Children’s Rights reporting cycle.
Our role, as an Alliance, is to work together to provide information and tell the stories of children’s and tamariki’s lives here in Aotearoa - there is not one story to tell, but many, reflecting the diversity of childhood and adolescent experiences in Aotearoa.
Our aim is to help the UN Committee understand what life is like for children and tamariki in Aotearoa - all children, in all circumstances.
Watch this short video to find out more about the reporting process.
The reporting process and the role of the Alliance
The Children’s Rights Alliance is recognised as the Country Focal Point for children’s rights in Aotearoa. It is our job to co-ordinate civil society (non-government) reporting to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, so the Committee can assess what life is like for children and tamariki in Aotearoa and how well children’s rights are being upheld. The Government also reports, separately, to the UN Committee and appears before them to discuss how it is meeting its obligations under the Children’s Convention.
The UN Committee, which is made up of 18 independent, international experts on children’s rights, considers Aotearoa’s progress on children’s rights, noting positive developments and making recommendations on how to progress children’s rights and improve the situation for children and tamariki in this country.
The steps in the reporting process
Aotearoa uses the UN Committee’s “simplified reporting process”. The steps in this process are:
The Children’s Rights Alliance and others, such as the Children’s Commissioner, report to the Committee on the key children’s rights issues in Aotearoa.
Using the information provided, the Committee develops a list of up to 30 issues for the Government to report on. This is called the List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LOIPR).
The Government provides a written report to the Committee, responding to the LOIPR.
The Children’s Rights Alliance reports to the Committee to provide information, to comment on the Government’s report, to suggest issues for the Committee to discuss with the Government, and to propose recommendations the Committee could consider making to the Government.
The Children’s Rights Alliance meets with the UN Committee to answer questions and help the Committee prepare for its examination of Aotearoa’s progress on children’s rights.
The Government appears before the Committee to discuss progress on children’s rights in Aotearoa.
The Committee issues Concluding Observations to the Government, recommending what should be done to realise children’s rights in Aotearoa.
Find out more about the simplified reporting process.
Read what the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has said about children’s rights in Aotearoa New Zealand, in its past reports (Concluding Observations).
Aotearoa’s 6th Children’s Rights report.
The Children’s Rights Alliance submitted our 6th Children’s Rights Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in August 2022.
What do we cover in our report?
Our report covers all children’s rights, grouped into these thematic clusters
General measures of implementation (art. 4, 42, 44(6))
Definition of the child (art.1)
General principles (art. 2,3, 6, 12)
Civil rights and freedoms (art. 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 39)
Violence against children (art. 19, 39, 37(a), 28(2))
Family environment and alternative care (art. 5, 9, 10,11, 18, 20, 21, 25, 27(4))
Children with disability (art. 23)
Basic health and welfare (art. 6(2), 24, 24(3), 26, 18(3), art. 27 paras. 1–3, 33)
Education, leisure and cultural activities (art. 28, 29, 30, 31)
Special protection measures (art. 22, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36,37 (a), 37 (b)–(d), 38, 39, 40)
Read the full text of the Children’s Convention.
In our report to the UN we have identified what we see as key children’s rights issues currently in Aotearoa. We are calling for:
Greater respect for the rights of tāmariki Māori as tāngata whenua and under the Children’s Convention.
2. An end to discrimination, including racism, so the rights of all children are upheld equally, including the rights of:
Tamariki Māori
Pasifika children
Disabled children
Refugee and migrant children
3. Greater efforts to protect children from violence and abuse, including through violence prevention.
4. Support for families and whānau, so all children can know and, as far as possible, be cared for by their families and whānau . We want to see children’s rights upheld in:
Oranga Tamariki
Adoption and surrogacy law reform
5. An adequate standard of living and good health for all children, with priority focus on:
Mental health
Timely access to quality health services for all children
Warm, safe housing for all children
Nutritious food
6. Mechanisms to ensure that children and their rights are central to climate change policy (mitigation and adaptation) and climate justice initiatives; and that children are listened to on climate change.
7. An increase in the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14; inclusion of all 17-year-olds in the youth justice system; an end to the detention of young people in Police custody and the use of physical restraints in detention; and the removal of Aotearoa’s reservation to Article 37(c).
8. Adequate protections for children who work and the removal of Aotearoa’s reservation to Article 32(2).
Thematic Children’s Rights reports.
Thematic reports are a way to provide more detailed information about specific rights or specific groups of children to the UN Committee..
A number of thematic reports on a wide range of topics have been provided to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, by different organisations.
Children’s Rights and Climate Change
Climate change has implications for all children’s rights and is a significant issue of concern for many children in Aotearoa.
There are child and youth-led climate justice initiatives across Aotearoa.
When she received the Pax Christi International Peace Prize 2020 on behalf of her fellow campaigners for climate justice, Pacific Climate Warrior Mary Moeono-Kolio said climate justice is personal: “It’s personal because it is the lives and livelihoods of our families that are being destroyed and continue to suffer due to the consequences of inaction by some and the complicit silence of so many others.”
Through groups like Pacific Climate Warriors and School Strikes for Climate, children throughout Aotearoa have called attention to their deep concerns about the impact of climate change on them, their homes, cultures, people, land and future.
The Children’s Rights Alliance Aotearoa is committed to pursuing climate justice for children through our reporting and advocacy so that children’s voices are heard and children can actively participate in climate change adaption and mitigation.
Find out more about children’s rights and the environment , including what the UN Committee has said about children’s rights and climate change.