Recommendations for Canada from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations is a worldwide organization of 193 countries who work together to make the world a better place for everyone. It aims to keep international peace and security, to develop friendships between countries and to promote respect and awareness
about human rights.

To do all of these things, the United Nations, which is composed of member governments, creates lists of rights. One of these lists is specifically for children and it’s called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention). The Convention is an international document that the governments of countries sign to make sure that all children under the age of 18 have their human rights. Human rights are basic things that every child needs to live and grow up in a healthy way – like the right to food and water the right to be safe and the right to be heard. Every child is born with the same  human rights – they cannot be taken away – but sometimes governments and others responsible for protecting and providing the conditions for these rights do not fulfill them as best as they can.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (the CRC Committee) is a group of experts who examine countries to see how well they are protecting the human rights of children. In September 2012, the CRC Committee reviewed Canada to see how well the Government of Canada is protecting the rights of children. The CRC Committee did a lot of research about Canada. They read reports and met with children’s rights groups from Canada and with government representatives to get a better understanding of how Canada can improve on fulfilling the human rights of children. This document is a summary of the recommendations (Concluding Observations) that the CRC Committee has made for the Government of Canada to make sure that all children in Canada under the age of 18 have all the rights listed in the Convention.