United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a body of independent experts that monitors and reports on implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by governments that ratify the Convention. The Committee also monitors implementation of the () and the ().

The CRC is one of the ten UN human rights treaty-based bodies. The Committee was created by the Convention on 27 February 1991. The Committee is made up of 18 members from different countries and legal systems who are of 'high moral standing' and experts in the field of human rights. Although members are nominated and elected by States party to the Convention, Committee members act in a personal capacity. They do not represent their countries' governments or any other organization to which they might belong. Members are elected for a four-year term and can be re-elected if nominated.

The 195 states that have ratified the Convention ("States party to the Convention") (which includes all UN member states except Somalia and the United States, South Sudan ratified on January 23, 2015) are required to submit initial and periodic reports on the national situation of children's rights to the Committee for examination. The Committee examines each report and raises concerns or makes recommendations to the State party. It also issues occasional general comments on the interpretation of particular Convention obligations. Once a year, the Committee submits a report to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, which also hears a statement from the CRC Chair, and the Assembly adopts a Resolution on the Rights of the Child.

The Committee cannot consider individual complaints, although child rights may be raised before other committees with competence to consider individual complaints. However, at least the case of Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, 11th Panchen Lama, was considered by the Committee on 28 May 1996, as well as at other later dates.

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