The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, composed of independent experts from various countries, monitors whether the rights included in the CRC and its Optional Protocols are being applied. This monitoring includes, inter alia, the examination of initial and periodic State reports.
In principle every five years, Member States shall submit a report setting out the state of play of the application of the above-mentioned Convention and the ratified protocols. These reports are based on the guidelines provided by the Committee. In Belgium, the NCRC has been coordinating the drafting the Belgian periodic report ever since 2007.
After reception of the State report and taking into account the alternative and / or parallel reports of NGOs and NHRIs, the Committee sends the country a "list of issues", a questionnaire to be answered by the country concerned in writing.
Following this, a constructive dialogue is established by the Committee with the country under consideration, during which points of attention are discussed. The Committee concludes by sending its concluding observations to the country concerned, requesting the country to act on them as soon as possible - and, at the latest, for the next report.
In this reporting process, NGOs and NHRIs have an important role. In order to understand the impact of state initiatives on rights-holders - children - it is essential that the Committee is aware of the perspective of NGOs, NHRIs and the children themselves. These national actors are invited to submit so-called alternative and / or parallel reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. You will find more information about this process here.