Last Thursday, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child published the UK List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LOIPR), which is one of the key stages in the UK’s examination under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The LOIPR was informed by the Civil Society submission written by CRAE and informed by evidence from our members and partners and additional research.
We are pleased to report that 67% of the questions suggested by the Civil Society submission were fully or partially reflected by the UN Committee in the LOIPR, with over half of them fully reflected. We are particularly pleased to see raised questions concerning the mainstreaming of Child Rights Impact Assessments (CRIAs) in England, alongside the best interest principles to be embedded in policy-making, and the need for an overarching mechanism to ensure the implementation of the UNCRC across all areas of government. It is also very positive to see the UN Committee enquiring about steps taken by the government to ensure that children and their rights are not negatively impacted by the consequences of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic and that recovery measures take children’s best interests into account.
The UN Committee has requested that the UK submit the state party report by 15th February 2022. This report will reply to the questions put to them in the LOIPR. We will be working closely with the Child Rights Team, in the Department for Education, to ensure the drafting of the State Party report is as transparent as possible and that civil society is fully involved.
Civil society will also have another opportunity to submit evidence to the UN Committee through its alternative report, which is due in May 2022. We expect to begin the process of the drafting of the alternative report in autumn 2021 and will again be inviting civil society for their input into the process.
Read about the UK's examination process and the Simplified Reporting Process in our briefing.
Read the Civil Society LOIPR submission.
Read here the executive summary of the independent evaluation of the process of the drafting of the Civil Society submission.