A global call to action for early childhood

General Comment No. 7:
Implementing child rights in
early childhood
Alan Kikuchi White,
External Relations Officer, Bernard van Leer Foundation
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The Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) reminds us that children,
while retaining their entitlement to
the full range of human rights, are
often marginalised or excluded, and
thus represent a special case requiring
additional safeguards. Within the
constituency of children, particular
groups remain vulnerable to further
risk factors that require additional
measures for State ratification. One
method of addressing these risk
factors is through the development
of a General Comment, a statement
of some ten to twenty pages based
on the expertise and experience of
the UN Committee on the Rights of
the Child (UNCRC), a body composed
of independent experts elected
by countries that have ratified the
Convention.
Since the CRC’s development, the
UNCRC has adopted ten General
Comments (see General Comments
at http://www.ohchr.org/english/
bodies/crc/comments.htm) guiding
States on specific issues such as HIV/
AIDS, the aims of education, violence
against children, and, in 2005, General
Comment 7 (GC7) on implementing
child rights in early childhood.
GC7 explains how the CRC should be
interpreted when it comes to young
children. It was drafted and adopted in
response to the UNCRC’s observation
that young children were almost
entirely overlooked in States parties’
reports on their progress towards
implementing the CRC. Where
present, references were limited to
child mortality and basic health and
welfare; they neglected broader
considerations of the realisation of
child rights for, and on behalf of,
young children. The implication of
such inadequate awareness of young
children’s rights by States parties was
that the States parties ignored their
obligations towards young children, or
treated children as objects of care but
not as subjects actively participating in
their development and in the social life
of family and neighbourhood.
Early childhood specialists informed the
deliberations of the UNCRC (in 2004)
that went into the drafting of GC7 (in
2005). In collaboration with UNICEF
and the Committee, the Bernard van
Leer Foundation published A Guide
to General Comment 7: Implementing
Child Rights in Early Childhood, which
contains extracts from the papers the
Committee considered when drafting
GC7.
The purpose of GC7 is to recognise
the rights of all young children as
outlined in the CRC, as well as to
emphasise early childhood as a vital
period in acknowledging these rights.
The Comment provides a definition
of the term “early childhood” and
identifies characteristics and features
specific to this developmental period.
In addition, GC7 examines research,
general principles, and rights in early
childhood. The Comment also explores
policies and programmes, capacity
building, and the responsibilities of
parents and States parties for early
childhood.
GC7: Young children as active
social participants
GC7 recognises that in implementing
the CRC, States parties have often
overlooked young children as rights
holders (GC7 para.3). The Comment
seeks to redress this oversight by
clarifying State obligations for CRC
implementation with respect to
all children “below the age of 8”
(GC7 para.4). In the introduction,
the Committee declares: “This
general comment arises out of the
Committee’s experiences of reviewing
States parties’ reports. In many cases,
very little information has been offered
about early childhood, with comments
limited mainly to child mortality, birth
registration and health care” (GC7
para.1).
In contrast to the emphasis on this
limited set of “usual suspects” in
State reports, GC7 presents an
ecological and holistic view of young
children as competent social actors
actively participating in families, peer
groups, communities, and society
(GC7 para.5). Young children are
regarded as active meaning-makers
with “evolving capacities” (CRC Art.5)
requiring age-appropriate guidance
and support and whom, both as
individuals and as a constituency,
have a voice that must be given due
consideration. Parents/caregivers
and States are reminded to balance
control and guidance with respect to
the evolving capacities of the young
child, as well as to keep in mind
the obligation to facilitate genuine
participation of young children in the
processes affecting their development.
To further consider GC7, we
make reference to the CRC’s four
fundamental principles:
• Non-discrimination (Art.2)
COORDINATORS’ NOTEBOOK: ISSUE 29