United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2004

Summary available online as PDF file [30p.] at: http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/pdf/CRC_Impact_summaryreport.pdf

"…..2004 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption and subsequent ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC is currently closer to being universally accepted than any other international human rights treaty. The CRC is also unique in that it so fully embodies civil, economic, political, social and cultural rights.

Critical questions: is the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) real or rhetorical? How has it been implemented? Ultimately, what has been the effect of the CRC on the daily lives of children? How far has the enjoyment of their human rights been advanced? What has been its effect in terms of generating social change?

The study celebrates the achievements that have taken place since the adoption of the CRC, in regions the world over. At the same time, it is a study that acknowledges the many challenges that remain, in implementing a treaty with such a broad scope.

…The study focuses on the general measures of implementation of the CRC in 62 countries, with a particular emphasis on legal and institutional reforms at the national level aimed at ensuring the effective application and enforcement of the provisions of the CRC……"