NGO Group for the CRC
International Network
NGO GROUP ON THE CRC
DESCRIPTION
The NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (NGO Group) brings together a variety of organisations into a cooperative network. What all share is a concern for the promotion, monitoring and implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
From 1983 (as the Informal Ad Hoc NGO Group for the Drafting of the CRC) members of the NGO Group, including BICE, were actively involved in the drafting of the Convention. The NGO Group has been credited with having a constructive influence on the Convention's final text. As soon as the CRC had been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, the NGO Group decided to continue working as a group on the monitoring and implementation of the CRC and adopted its current name.
MISSION AND AIMS
The NGO Group is a registered network with the mission to facilitate the promotion, implementation and monitoring of the CRC. This mission is translated into the following aims:
- to advocate on behalf of children by raising awareness about the Convention;
- to promote and facilitate the full implementation of the Convention through specific programmes and actions;
- to facilitate the flow of information between the Committee on the Rights of the Child concerned United Nations bodies and the NGO community;
- to facilitate cooperation and information-sharing within the NGO community on monitoring and implementing the Convention;
- to draw up policies and strategies and undertake action in fields covered by the Convention;
- to contribute to the monitoring work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child;
- to facilitate the creation and support the work of NGO networks that advance children rights at national level;
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS
The NGO Group has a membership of over 80 international non-governmental organisations. Each of these have a constituency and/or activities in at least three countries. Some members are directly involved in the implementation of the CRC through their aims and activities. Others have child welfare as their primary focus. There are also members, such as special interest groups, religious based charities, women's organisations, professional associations and trade unions, for whom the rights of the child form one aspect of a wider mandate.
Other intergovernmental organisations, such as UNICEF, participate at this, and other levels as, observers.
WORKING GROUPS
NGO Group members form Working Groups to work on themes or issues related to specific articles of the CRC. These thematic areas include for instance violence against children, juvenile justice, children without parental care, sexual exploitation. Working Groups form an integral part of the NGO Group's work in ensuring that children's rights are actively advanced within the UN system, as well as other international fora. Through these Working Groups members have a platform for debate and joint action.
