CRC dialogues : does the Committee on the Rights of the Child 'speak' to the National Courts?

Despite the popularity of the CRC, the national courts’ meaningful engagement with it seems to be lagging behind. This chapter advances the view that the Committee on the Rights of the Child could and indeed ought to assist the courts in applying the CRC more effectively. Acknowledging that the output of the Committee is not binding on national courts, an argument is made for the Committee to improve legal cogency and persuasiveness of its views in order to increase its chances of influencing the courts’ position in terms of the domestic legal states of the CRC (especially in terms of its direct applications) and the interpretation of its norms. This would potentially improve the national implementation of the CRC and children’s access to judicial remedies. The analysis provided shows, however, that there is a low usage of the Committee’s output by national courts, and that, although helpful for the national courts to a certain extent, the Committee’s output remains wanting in many respects. A few suggestions are made in terms of how the Committee’s work could be improved to be of more assistance in national courts’ engagement with the CRC.