The Committee on the Rights of the Child

The Committee on the Rights of the Child
Τhe Committee on the Rights of the Child is the body of 18 Independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by its State parties. It also monitors implementation of two Optional Protocols to the Convention, on involvement of children in armed conflict and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.  On 19 December 2011, the UN General Assembly approved a third Optional Protocol on a communications procedure, which will allow individual children to submit complaints regarding specific violations of their rights under the Convention and its first two optional protocols. The Protocol entered into force in April 2014.
All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights, enshrined in the Convention, are being implemented. States must submit an initial report two years after acceding to the Convention and then periodic reports every five years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of “concluding observations/observations finales”.
The Committee also reviews the reports which must be submitted by States who have acceded to the first two Optional Protocols to the Convention, on involvement of children in armed conflict and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, in order to monitor their implementation. State Parties must, within two years following the entry into force of the Protocols for each of them, submit a report to the Committee providing comprehensive information on implementation of the provisions of the Protocols. Following the submission of this initial report, State Parties must include in the reports they submit to the Committee regarding the implementation of the Convention any further information with respect to the implementation of the Protocols
Τhe Committee also publishes its interpretation of the content of children’s rights provisions, known as “general comments/ observations générales” on thematic issues. 
 
The case of Greece
a. The Convention on the Rights of the Child
In 1992, Greece ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Law 2101/1992). Since then, Greece submitted reports to the Committee in 2000 (initial report), 2009 (second and third periodic reports) and 2018 (combined fourth to sixth periodic reports). 
Non-Governmental Organisations also submitted reports to the Committee in 2001 (in relation to the submission of the initial report) and in 2011 (in relation to the submission of the second and third periodic reports). The Greek Ombudsman has also submitted a parallel report to the Committee entitled “Findings and recommendations of the Independent Authority “the Greek Ombudsman” on the implementation of Children’s Rights in Greece (July 2003 – December 2011)“ in relation to the submission of the second and third periodic reports. 
The Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its concluding observations on Greece’s initial report in 2002, and on the country’s second and third periodic reports in 2012.
On the 28th of June 2022, the Committee issued its concluding observations on the combined fourth to sixth periodic reports submitted by Greece on the 21st of December 2018. 

b. The Optional Protocols 
Greece has ratified the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on involvement of children in armed conflict (Law 3080/2002) and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (Law 3625/2007).
The country has also submitted the initial reports regarding the implementation of the two Protocols, in 2010 in relation to the Optional Protocol on involvement of children in armed conflict, and in 2011 in relation to the Optional Protocol on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. 
The Committee on the Rights of the Child reviewed those reports and issued its concluding observations for them both in 2012 (here&here). 
Greece has yet to ratify the third Optional Protocol to the Convention, on the communications procedure.
 
General Comments
Τhe Committee on the Rights of the Child publishes its interpretation of the content of children’s rights provisions, known as “general comments/ observations générales” on thematic issues.
The Committee has issued the following general comments till this moment:

N°26 (2023) Children’s rights and the environment, with a special focus on climate change
Ν°25 (2021) Children’s rights in relation to the digital environment 
N°24 (2019) Children’s rights in the child justice system
Ν° 23 (2017) State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return (Joint general comment N° 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child)
Ν°22 (2017) Τhe general principles regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration (Joint general comment N° 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and N° 22 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child)
Ν°21 (2017) Children in street situations
N°20 (2016) The implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence
N°19 (2016) Public budgeting for the realization of children’s rights (art. 4)
N°18 (2014) Ηarmful practices (Joint general recommendation/general comment N° 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and N° 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child)
N°17 (2013) Τhe right of the child to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities, cultural life and the arts (art. 31): Ν°17 (2013)
N°16 (2013) State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights
N°15 (2013) Τhe right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (art. 24)
N°14 (2013) Τhe right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (art. 3, para. 1)
N°13 (2011) The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence
N°12 (2009) The right of the child to be heard
N°11 (2009) Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention
N°10 (2007) Children's rights in juvenile justice
Ν° 9 (2006) The rights of children with disabilities
N° 8 (2006) The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment (arts. 19; 28, para. 2; and 37, inter alia)
N° 7 (2005) Implementing child rights in early childhood
N° 6 (2005) Treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin
N° 5 (2003) General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
N° 4 (2003) Adolescent health and development in the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
N° 3 (2003) HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child
N° 2 (2002) The role of independent national human rights institutions in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child
N° 1 (2001) The aims of education