CRC/C/GC/19 II. Legal analysis of article 4 in relation to public budgets A. “States parties shall undertake” 18. The words “shall undertake” mean that States parties have no discretion as to whether or not to satisfy their obligation to undertake the appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures necessary to realize children’s rights, which includes measures related to public budgets. 19. Hence, all government branches, levels and structures that play a role in devising public budgets shall exercise their functions in a way that is consistent with the general principles of the Convention and the budget principles set out in sections III and IV below. States parties should also create an enabling environment to allow the legislature, judiciary and supreme audit institutions to do the same. 20. States parties should enable budget decision makers at all levels of the executive and the legislative to access the necessary information, data and resources, and build capacity to realize the rights of the child. B. “all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures” 21. that: The obligation to undertake “all appropriate measures” includes the duty to ensure (a) Laws and policies are in place to support resource mobilization, budget allocation and spending to realize children’s rights; (b) The necessary data and information about children are collected, generated and disseminated to support the design and implementation of appropriate legislation, policies, programmes and budgets to advance the rights of the child; (c) Sufficient public resources are mobilized, allocated and utilized effectively to fully implement approved legislation, policies, programmes and budgets; (d) Budgets are systematically planned, enacted, implemented and accounted for at the national and subnational levels of the State, in a manner that ensures the realization of children’s rights. 22. Measures are considered appropriate when they are relevant to directly or indirectly advancing children’s rights in a given context, including that of public budgets. 23. “Legislative measures”, which States parties are obligated to take in relation to public budgets, include reviewing existing legislation, and developing and adopting legislation that aims to ensure that budgets are sufficiently large for the realization of children’s rights at the national and subnational levels. “Administrative measures” include the development and implementation of programmes that meet the aims of agreed legislation, and ensuring adequate public budgets to do so. “Other measures” can be understood to include, for example, the development of public budget participation mechanisms, and data or policies related to children’s rights. Public budgets can be seen to straddle all three categories of measures, while also being indispensable to the realization of other legislative, administrative and other measures. All government branches, levels and structures are responsible for advancing the rights of the child. 24. The Committee underlines that States parties have an obligation to show how the public budget-related measures they choose to take result in improvements in children’s rights. States parties shall show evidence of the outcomes obtained for children as a result GE.16-12638 7