ABSTRACT
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (‘the Committee’) published its advice on implementing children’s rights in the early years in 2005 in General Comment No. 7 (‘GC7’). This chapter assesses the extent to and ways in which children’s rights in the early years are addressed both by governments and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in the periodic monitoring process on the Convention through a documentary analysis of States Parties reports and the concluding observations of the Committee published in 2017. These were analysed to assess the extent and ways in which governments prioritise children’s rights in law and policy in the early years in their reports to the Committee, and the extent to which GC7 is influencing governments and indeed the Committee itself. The chapter concludes that the General Comment has been largely ignored by the Committee and the world’s governments other than on specific issues such as early education and infant health and nutrition. It recommends that the full range of young children’s rights are addressed and prioritised by governments and the Committee, and that the Committee takes a more proactive role in addressing young children’s rights in its periodic monitoring drawing on the General Comment.
