Monitoring the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Few international legal instruments have been so warmly embraced by the international community as the Convention on the Rights of the Child; yet, as UNICEF reminds us, more than half a billion children live in unstable and dangerous situations. This raises questions as to how effective the Convention is implemented and monitored, and in particular how its monitoring body (the Committee on the Rights of the Child) operates in practice. This latter question is exhaustively analysed by Ms Jutta Gras in the impressive report. She concludes the study by presenting a number of suggestions for improving the functioning of the Committee.