Committee on the Rights of the Child Closes One Hundred and First Session after Adopting Concluding Observations on Reports of Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Uganda and Tanzania
The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its one hundred and first session after adopting concluding observations on the periodic reports under the Convention on the Rights of the Child of Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Uganda and Tanzania. The concluding observations will be made available on the session’s webpage on Thursday, 1 October.
Sophie Kiladze, Committee Chair, in closing remarks, said that over the years, the Committee had witnessed significant progress. It had seen States adopt important reforms, strengthen legislation and policies, improve services and, in many places, make real and measurable improvements in the lives of children. This demonstrated that progress was possible when there was political will, commitment and investment in children.
However, the world continued to witness, year after year, grave and sometimes increasingly severe violations of children’s rights across every area of the Convention, she said. Children continued to suffer from armed conflict and violence. They faced sexual exploitation and abuse, extreme poverty, hunger and lack of access to safe drinking water. Millions of children were displaced from their homes and deprived of education, healthcare, protection and a safe family environment. Natural disasters and environmental degradation were increasingly affecting their lives and their futures. In many situations, these violations were becoming more complex, more interconnected and more severe. For too many children, the rights guaranteed to them by the Convention remained rights on paper rather than rights experienced in their daily lives.
Ms. Kiladze noted that as the Committee continued to address these longstanding challenges, new ones were emerging. Artificial intelligence, perhaps the most visible example, was now at the centre of global discussions. She said she was particularly proud that the Committee began its work on artificial intelligence and children’s rights three years ago, when this specific topic was almost not visible on the international stage. Through cooperation with the International Telecommunications Union and the United Nations Children's Fund, other partners from the United Nations, business, experts, academia, civil society and children themselves, this work contributed to the Joint Statement on Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of the Child.
However, the Committee could not stop there, Ms. Kiladze said. Technology was developing faster than legal and policy frameworks. Thus, the Committee had decided to dedicate its next general comment, its twenty-eighth, to emerging technologies and child rights — an agenda that included artificial intelligence but also went beyond it. The Committee’s responsibility was to ensure that technological progress did not leave children behind. It needed to ensure that innovation served children’s rights, rather than creating new forms of inequality, discrimination, exploitation or exclusion.
The liquidity crisis of the United Nations had direct consequences for the human rights system and for the Committee’s ability to fulfil its mandate, Ms. Kiladze said. The Committee did not know with certainty when, and under what conditions, future sessions of the Committee would be held. For a treaty body entrusted with monitoring the implementation of the Convention, this uncertainty was deeply concerning. Every postponed review could mean delayed reforms, legislation, policies and services. Behind every delay, there were real children — children waiting for protection, waiting for education, waiting for healthcare, waiting for support and, in some cases, simply waiting to be safe. This was why the work of the Committee mattered.
Ms. Kiladze expressed hope that the Committee would be able to continue to fulfil its mandate fully and effectively; that the conditions necessary for its work would be secured; and that it could meet again in January 2027 for its one hundred and second session to discuss all matters concerning children’s rights. The Committee owed children its determination to continue this work, regardless of how difficult the circumstances were.
Turning to formal matters, Ms. Kiladze reported that, as of 22 May, there were 196 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with one State having not ratified. There were also 173 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict; 178 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; and 54 States parties to the Optional Protocol on the communications procedure. There had been no new ratifications or accessions since the beginning of the session.
Ms. Kiladze said that, in the one hundred and first session, the Committee held 28 meetings. At the opening meeting for the session, the Committee adopted its programme of work and received an update from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the ratification of and reporting on the Convention and its three Optional Protocols.
During the session, Ms. Kiladze said, the Committee reviewed seven reports: those of Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Uganda and Tanzania. The scheduled review of Burkina Faso was postponed to a later session at the request of the State party.
In addition, she reported that the Committee adopted decisions on 16 individual communications received under the Optional Protocol on a communications procedure against Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Türkiye. This brought the number of cases pending consideration before the Committee to 78. The Committee found violations of the Convention in three cases concerning institutionalisation of children, children in conflict with the law and administrative detention of migrant children. It found no violation in six non-refoulement cases, declared one case concerning children in the context of armed conflict inadmissible, and discontinued six cases concerning non-refoulement and age determination of unaccompanied migrant children. Under article 13 of the Optional Protocol, the Committee was currently dealing with five inquiries. It had adopted its latest inquiry report, which would be sent to the State party concerned for their observations.
During the session, the Committee also discussed issues related to its methods of work and continued its discussion on follow-up to the treaty body strengthening process in the context of the United Nations liquidity crisis, Ms. Kiladze reported. On 17 September 2026, it held its ninth biennial meeting with senior staff of the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Further, the Committee adopted its latest general comment 27 on children’s rights to access to justice and to an effective remedy.
In closing, Ms. Kiladze expressed sincere gratitude to all the Committee’s partners for their cooperation during the session, including States parties, United Nations agencies, civil society, experts and children, whose voices continued to serve as a reminder as to why this work mattered. She also thanked her colleagues on the Committee on the Rights of the Child for everything that they did for children around the world, as well as members of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Secretariat for their contributions to the session.
During the meeting, the Committee adopted the report of its one hundred and first session.
Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. Documents related to the Committee’s one hundredth session can be found here.
The dates and the countries to be reviewed for the Committee’s one hundred and second session have yet to be confirmed. This information will be announced on the Committee’s website at a later date.
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