Universal Periodic Review: The Status of Children's Rights - CRIN

Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) NGO Survey Findings
had met with the governments, some stated how pro-active and sincere the government had been in consulting them,
others viewed the cooperation by governments as a far less sincere exercise, some stating the government's cooperation
was simply a means to receive assistance in drafting their own national reports.
Engaging with the government: Naturally, the extent to which it is possible for NGOs and other
organisations to meet or generally cooperate with governments prior to the review will vary
according to the circumstances in individual countries. If cooperation is feasible, it is worthwhile
focusing on how best to approach this consultation. One NGO stated, “When we meet with the
government prior to the review, we tend to prioritise three key themes and focus on making
headway with these, as opposed to tackling all issues. We feel this is more feasible and effective”
Question 2d) Child participation: Did you involve children in the reporting process?
Response Summary:
Only a couple of organisations involved children in the reporting process, or at any stage of the UPR. However, when
asked what they would do differently next time, more than half said they would involve children in the process. The
responses suggested the lack of child participation was more a result of time and capacity issues as opposed to
recognising the benefits of involving children in the UPR.
Case Study: Child participation in Lebanon's UPR
One NGO successfully incorporated the views of children into their alternative report for Lebanon's review. The NGO
staged a series of workshops with children in different parts of the country and in different socio-economic contexts to
discuss the issues they faced in their own country. After hearing about the broad range of issues that existed, the
children voted on the concerns they felt were particularly problematic and which affected them most. Research was then
conducted alongside the children into evidence of theses violations and reports were drawn up. Finally, a lessons
learned session with children and staff involved in the child-led reporting process was conducted to help improve the
process for the next UPR session. A 16 year old child, who was involved in the process, attended the review in Geneva
and will report back to his peers about the experience.
What has worked well already: Further research would be useful to find out how other
organisations may have involved children in the UPR process. It would be useful to collect both
good examples, but also not so good examples. When considering involving children, organisations
need to ensure that they have thought this through and that it will not simply be done in a tokenistic
way. The NGO Group for the CRC is currently working with the UN Committee on the Rights of
the Child to prepare guidelines on involving children in the CRC reporting process and quite a few
international NGOs have involved children in different ways in their own work. It is worth finding
out what has worked and what has not before considering doing this.
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