The National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) is a Belgian official human rights body. The Commission works as a coordination platform gathering 90 governmental and non-governmental actors in the children’s rights realm.
On November 20, 1989, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This Convention entered into force in Belgium on January 15, 1992. It applies to all persons under 18 years of age.
Through the Convention, Belgium is committed to ensuring the implementation of the rights of the child. In order to monitor compliance the CRC provides that all States Parties to the Convention shall, in principle every five years, submit a report on the progress of the child rights situation to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva.
Upon review of Belgian’s initial report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, concerned about the absence of a central mechanism to coordinate the implementation of the Convention in Belgium, the Committee recommended that Belgium establish such a mechanism to achieve a comprehensive and coherent child rights policy.
Accordingly, in 2005 a cooperation agreementwas signed between the Belgian governments in order to create a National Commission on the Rights of the Child.