Welcome!
ACTION: CRC AND CEDAW REPORTING IN THE CARIBBEAN REGION
State Party Reporting is crucial to the implementation of international instruments. The reporting process requires States to reflect upon their achievements and the challenges of implementing the Treaty in question. It also provides NGOs and Experts from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (the CRC Committee) and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the CEDAW Committee) with the opportunity to raise questions, highlight concerns and make recommendations to assist States to improve implementation and compliance with the relevant Treaty.
This Training Toolkit has been developed to help build the capacity of Caribbean States to meet their reporting obligations under CRC and CEDAW. Reporting can be a daunting and challenging prospect for States, especially small States, such as those in the Caribbean, and the majority of Caribbean States are behind in their reporting requirements.
A large amount of information is required for each report and, for many States, providing this requires a change to the way that they have traditionally collected statistical data, particularly in relation to information on social and economic rights. Once understood, however, compiling a report for one of the UN Committees is not a difficult process and brings its own rewards, especially where the subjects of the two Conventions in question, women and children, are themselves involved in the reporting process.
The process of reporting can raise awareness amongst the population about the Conventions and can provide an opportunity to take stock of the level of human rights protection within the jurisdiction for the purpose of policy planning and implementation. The reporting process should also encourage and facilitate public scrutiny of government policies and constructive engagement with relevant actors of civil society, with the aim of increasing enjoyment of the rights protected by the Convention.
This comprehensive Training Toolkit aims to improve the capacity of the government counterparts, civil society organizations, parliamentarians and media professionals in understanding the CRC and CEDAW, the State periodic reporting process, and NGOs’ shadow/alternative reporting to the CRC and CEDAW Committees to enable compliance with reporting obligations under CRC and CEDAW. The Toolkit seeks to build and enhance participants’ skills and professional expertise to engage in a timely reporting process that is participatory and that integrates the voices of most excluded women and children. In this way, the Toolkit will contribute to the attainment of international goals and commitments made by countries in the Caribbean and will strengthen the national capacities to put in place a system to monitor and implement CRC and CEDAW Concluding Observations and General Comments and Recommendations, respectively.
This Training Toolkit has been developed to help build the capacity of Caribbean States to meet their reporting obligations under CRC and CEDAW. Reporting can be a daunting and challenging prospect for States, especially small States, such as those in the Caribbean, and the majority of Caribbean States are behind in their reporting requirements.
A large amount of information is required for each report and, for many States, providing this requires a change to the way that they have traditionally collected statistical data, particularly in relation to information on social and economic rights. Once understood, however, compiling a report for one of the UN Committees is not a difficult process and brings its own rewards, especially where the subjects of the two Conventions in question, women and children, are themselves involved in the reporting process.
The process of reporting can raise awareness amongst the population about the Conventions and can provide an opportunity to take stock of the level of human rights protection within the jurisdiction for the purpose of policy planning and implementation. The reporting process should also encourage and facilitate public scrutiny of government policies and constructive engagement with relevant actors of civil society, with the aim of increasing enjoyment of the rights protected by the Convention.
This comprehensive Training Toolkit aims to improve the capacity of the government counterparts, civil society organizations, parliamentarians and media professionals in understanding the CRC and CEDAW, the State periodic reporting process, and NGOs’ shadow/alternative reporting to the CRC and CEDAW Committees to enable compliance with reporting obligations under CRC and CEDAW. The Toolkit seeks to build and enhance participants’ skills and professional expertise to engage in a timely reporting process that is participatory and that integrates the voices of most excluded women and children. In this way, the Toolkit will contribute to the attainment of international goals and commitments made by countries in the Caribbean and will strengthen the national capacities to put in place a system to monitor and implement CRC and CEDAW Concluding Observations and General Comments and Recommendations, respectively.