CRC: Committee seeks comments on draft General Comment on Child Rights and Business

Submitted by crinadmin on Mon, 09/07/2012 - 15:55

Summary: The Committee on the Rights of the Child is seeking input on its draft General Comment on Child Rights and the Business Sector.

Back in March, the Committee issued a call for submissions on an annotated outline of a General Comment on Business and Children's Rights. Contributions received form the basis for a second call for submissions.

Second call

In addition to the first call for submissions mentioned above and multi-stakeholder consultations, the Committee welcomes inputs on the first draft of its General Comment. Submissions from interested organizations and individuals who have experience or information on State party obligations under the Convention in relation to the business sector would be particularly welcome.

Submissions of both a conceptual and empirical nature would be welcomed by the Committee and should:

Focus specifically on States' obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (ie. what States do or should do in relation to business to ensure the rights of the child become a reality);

Aim at raising issues that the contributor would like to recommend be covered in the General Comment, including comments on specific issues in the outline that could be further developed and/or highlighting issues which are not currently addressed in the outline; such suggestions might be substantiated with relevant case studies or data;

Wherever possible, draw on the practical experience of the submitting organisation (including NGOs, unions or enterprises) or individual and be focused on the rights of the child.

Additionally, in providing submissions, the Committee requests that the following guidelines be adhered to:

Submissions should be of no more than 5,000 words (approximately 10 pages) in format A4, font 12;
Be submitted in one of the Committee’s three working languages, English, French or Spanish;
Submissions exceeding 3,500 words (approximately 7 pages) should include an executive summary of no more than 500 words in length and table of contents;
Persons or organisations providing submissions should also state their (i) Full Name; (ii) Affiliation and/or background in the subject area on the cover page of the submission;
Submissions are to be sent by email to [email protected];
In addition to specific submissions, longer publications or research which could be of interest for the General Comment can also be submitted; in such instances, these must include an Executive summary of no more than 500 words and a table of contents;
The deadline for submissions is 24 August 2012.