CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: CRC General Comment on children's right to health

Submitted by crinadmin on

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) contains legally binding obligations in relation to the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health (art. 24). By virtue of its mandate, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the CRC Committee) has decided to elaborate a General Comment on the right to health of children under eighteen.

The CRC Committee elaborates its General Comments with a view to clarifying the normative contents of specific rights provided for under the Convention on the Rights of the Child or particular themes of relevance to the Convention, as well as offer guidance about practical measures of implementation. General Comments provide interpretation and analysis of specific articles of the CRC or deal with thematic issues related to the rights of the child. General Comments constitute an authoritative interpretation as to what is expected of States parties as they implement the obligations contained in the CRC.

The General Comment on the right to health will clarify:

(a) the normative content of the right of the child and adolescent to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation in relation to health care services, and

(b) the legally binding obligations of States parties to the CRC with respect to ensuring the full realisation of the child’s right to health. The General Comment will provide a conceptual framework and recommendations for concrete measures and actions required by States Parties, and non-State actors, to fulfil these obligations.

Click here to see the detailed scope and proposed structure of the General Comment.

The CRC Committee welcomes inputs on the child’s right to health, in English, French or Spanish, particularly from interested organisations and individuals who have extensive experience or information on the right to health of children under eighteen. The submissions are invited to address the following questions:

  1. What should be the basic premises for the realization of children’s right to health?
  2. How can the principles of the CRC, in particular articles 2, 3, 6 and 12, be applied to designing, implementing and monitoring interventions to address child and adolescent health challenges and what aspects are specific to a child’s rights approach to health?
  3. What is the normative content of article 24? What are the specific obligations of States under article 24? What are the responsibilities of non-state actors under article 24?
  4. What are the priority concerns in general and in particular regions of the world for the implementation of article 24?
  5. Which concrete measures should be put in place to implement article 24?

The submissions shall not address the content of Article 24.3, which will be covered by a separate joint General Comment/Recommendation currently being produced by the CRC Committee in collaboration with the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of  Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The submissions should be limited to 5 pages and sent to the following email address in Word format by no later than 6 January 2012: crc@ohchr.org. All submissions should be accompanied by a brief presentation (1 paragraph is sufficient) on the experience of the submitting individual or organisation in the subject matter. The submissions received will subsequently be posted on a webpage dedicated to the General Comment. Please note that the United Nations does not offer remuneration of any kind for inputs into General Comments.

 

Further Information: 

pdf: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/callsubmissionsCRC.htm

Attachment Link: 
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/callsubmissionsCRC.htm
Link : 

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