A/HRC/31/33 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to resolution 28/19, in which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a follow-up report on investment in the rights of the child on the basis of good practices and lessons learned, in close collaboration with stakeholders, including States, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), other relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, relevant special procedure mandate holders, regional organizations and human rights bodies, civil society, national human rights institutions and children themselves. II. Overview 2. The present report follows up on the report of the High Commissioner entitled “Towards a better investment in the rights of the child” (A/HRC/28/33), in which the High Commissioner set out the obligations of States to invest adequately in the rights of children, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In its full-day meeting on the rights of the child, held on 12 March 2015 during its twenty-eighth session, the Human Rights Council debated the issue of investment in children. During the discussion, many States called for examples of good practice to be shared by OHCHR in order to support States in ensuring effective and efficient investment in children. 3. One of the aims of the present report is to provide such examples, and to show that States at all stages of economic development can fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to invest adequately, effectively and equitably in the rights of children. Increased and improved investment in children is ultimately linked to the willingness and capacity of the policymakers that formulate and approve national, regional and local budgets, and ensure effective allocation and execution. This includes ensuring domestic resource mobilization, including through progressive taxation policies, international cooperation, sufficient and equitable budget allocation to key sectors and programmes of importance to children, efficient public financial management systems and resource transparency. Furthermore, mechanisms can be introduced or strengthened to ensure that policymakers fulfil their obligations, including through proper accountability, transparency, non-discrimination and the participation of citizens, including children. The examples of good practices described in the present report are illustrative and selective. III. Generating revenue for the realization of the rights of the child 4. Taxes are the largest and most predictable source of finance for States at all levels of development. In the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, world leaders stated that significant additional domestic public resources, supplemented by international assistance as appropriate, would be critical to realizing sustainable development. For that reason, States committed to enhance revenue administration through modernized, progressive tax systems, improved tax policy and more efficient tax collection, and to work to improve the fairness, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of their tax systems, including by broadening the tax base. 1 1 2 General Assembly resolution 69/313, annex, para. 22.