A/HRC/28/33 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to resolution 25/6, in which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a report on the theme of towards better investment in the rights of the child, in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including States, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), other relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, relevant special procedures mandate holders, regional organizations and human rights bodies, civil society, non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions and children themselves, and to present it to the Council at its twenty-eighth session. 2. Contributions were received from States, national human rights institutions and nongovernmental organizations.1 II. Investment in children: overview 3. A lack of sufficient, effective, inclusive and efficient public spending on children is one of the main barriers to the realization of the rights of the child. Relevant policy and legislative commitments remain empty promises unless Governments generate and equitably allocate adequate resources for their implementation in their local and national budgets, and ensure effective and efficient use of resources. 4. Equitable, continuous and broad-based investment in children can level the playing field by providing every child with the same opportunities for survival and development. 2 Inadequate investment, especially in the most vulnerable and marginalized, can perpetuate the intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality, leading to irreversible negative impact on children’s development.3 5. Research shows that investment in children accrues considerable returns. It generates short-term positive benefits and cumulative long-term gains, delivering benefits not only to the individuals themselves but also to society and the economy at large; for example, improving equity in health outcomes has been found to contribute directly to economic growth.4 It has been estimated that achieving the Millennium Development Goal targets on water and sanitation could yield a total annual economic benefit of $84 billion. 5 Investment in pre-school enrolment has been found not only to benefit individual children, for example in terms of higher future wages, but also to have public benefits in terms of enhanced welfare, crime savings and tax revenues. 6 Investment in quality, equitable 1 2 3 4 5 6 For more information, see www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Children/TowardsInvestment/Pages/Towardsabetterinvestmentintherightso fthechild.aspx. A/68/257, para. 73. Ibid., para. 74. See Nicholas Rees, Jingqing Chai and David Anthony, “Right in Principle and in Practice: A Review of the Social and Economic Returns to Investing in Children” (UNICEF, 2012) 32. Guy Hutton and Laurence Haller, Evaluation of the costs and benefits of water and sanitation improvements at the global level (2004, WHO) in Rees, Chai and Anthony, “Right in Principle and in Practice (see footnote 4), p. vii. Patrice L. Engle et al, “Strategies for reducing inequalities and improving developmental outcomes for young children in low-income and middle-income countries”, The Lancet (2011) vol. 378, No. 9799. 3