Coordination and management of children’s rights legislative reform process
Contents- Incorporation
- Key elements of children’s rights legislative reform
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Coordination and management of children’s rights legislative reform process
- Drafting legislation
- Identifying the coordinator
- Budgeting for the legislative reform
- Setting a timeline
- Ensuring a participatory and inclusive process – consultations
- Setting up a feedback system
- Affirming government commitment at all stages
- Potential general barriers when engaging in children’s rights legislative reform
- Child Rights Impact Assessments (CRIA) – Ex ante
- Non-legal measures to support incorporation of children’s rights
Potential general barriers when engaging in children’s rights legislative reform
In relation to the government’s commitment to domestic children’s rights legislative reform, States may face some general barriers that ought to be recognised and addressed, such as:
- Access to financial resources for the legislative reform process. Financial resources will be necessary for all elements of the legislative reform process: the review of legislation, the consultation with relevant stakeholders, the mobilisation of technical expertise for the development of substantial provisions, and the measures needed for the implementation, enforcement and monitoring of the new or revised legislation.
- Access to human resources. Likewise, human resources will need to be mobilised throughout the entire legislative reform process. This includes the availability of knowledgeable professionals.
- Time. Engaging in the children’s rights legislative reform process will take time and involve many actors. Government composition and priorities may change during the process.
- Institutional strength. Engaging in children’s rights legislative reform and ensuring the proper implementation of these reforms will require institutions capable of carrying out the implementation and enforcing the new or revised legislation.
- Cultural barriers and social norms or discriminatory attitudes towards certain groups. The cultural and social sensitivity of many of the principles in the CRC means that they are unlikely to be fully implemented without broad-based agreement within the general population. Effective implementation of children’s rights legislative reform will require strong governmental support and broad public involvement.
- Lack of political will. In some States Parties, there may be resistance to legislative reform from the government, the opposition or even the public at large. Political will is the ultimate requirement for the success of the implementation and incorporation of the CRC (Kilkelly, Lundy and Byrne 2021).
However, while acknowledging the barriers States Parties may face, undertaking children’s rights legislative reform is a necessary process for the realisation of children’s rights in a particular State Party, and to build inclusive and democratic societies.