REPORT BY THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON UNCRC 9 Report of the Sub-Committee on UN Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC) INTRODUCTION The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 20 November 1989. The Convention was formally opened for ratification on 26 January, 1990, the Government of India ratified the CRC on 11 December, 1992. It, however, has signed the Convention, thereby indicating general support for its principles and an intention not to take actions that would actively undermine those principles. The CRC is the most complete statement of child rights ever made. It takes the ten principles of the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, and expands them to 54 articles, of which 41 relate specifically to the rights of children, covering almost every aspect of a child’s life. The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 mandates the Commission to study Treaties and other International instruments on Human Rights and to make recommendations for their effective implementation through domestic legislations as well as programmes and policies. Accordingly a ten member Committee under the Chairperson, NHRC was constituted on 03rd February, 2017 to advise the Commission. The first meeting of this Committee was held on 24 May,2017 under the chairmanship of Justice H.L Dattu. The Committee made a recommendation to explore the possibility of setting up specialized thematic sub-committees, such as on child rights, disability, women, etc to assist the Committee in its work. These sub-committees were to make recommendations on the gaps between the relevant international convention and the pertinent domestic legislation. The meeting of the Committee held on 16 November, 2017 constituted a Sub Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Member, Smt. Jyotika Kalra. Under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Member Smt. Jyotika Kalra, ten meetings of the Sub-Committee were held, between December, 2017 to February 2019 with subject experts Shri Sudhir Kumar, Special Rapporteur, NHRC, and Ms. Bharti Ali, Co-Founder & Executive Director, HAQ-Centre for Child Rights, apart from meetings, the inputs were given through mails also. During deliberations, the Sub- Committee considered not only the provisions of Laws but also the Judgements and the Schemes of Govt, it was felt that comparison should be short and easy to comprehend. The Convention has been divided in six subheadings i.e. Child in Family Environment, Children Deprived of Family Environment/ Alternative Care, Child Labour, Educational, Social Security, Religious and Economic Rights, Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Violence against Children, and Non-Discrimination. The comparison has been given in tabular form, first column contains articles of UNCRC in bullet points, second column mentions corresponding legal provisions, Judgements and Schemes of Government, for reference, the details of the provisions have been foot noted. After comparing both the columns, the gaps have been identified and numbered, each gap has its corresponding recommendation, the justification for the same has also been given in brackets.