Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international convention setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. It is monitored by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Most member nation states (countries) of the United Nations have ratified it, either partly or completely. The United Nations General Assembly agreed to adopt the Convention into international law on November 20 1989; it came into force in September 1990, after it was ratified by the required number of nations. The Convention generally defines a child as any person under the age of 18, unless an earlier age of majority is recognized by a country's law.

The Convention acknowledges that every child has certain basic rights, including the right to life, his or her own name and identity, to be raised by his or her parents within a family or cultural grouping and have a relationship with both parents, even if they are separated.

The Convention obliges states to allow parents to exercise their parental responsibilities. The Convention also acknowledges that children have the right to express their opinions and to have those opinions heard and acted upon when appropriate, to be protected from abuse or exploitation, to have their privacy protected and requires that their lives not be subject to excessive interference.

The Convention also obliges signatory states to provide separate legal representation for a child in any judicial dispute concerning their care and asks that the child's viewpoint be heard in such cases. The Convention forbids capital punishment for children.

The Convention is child-centric and places the child's needs and rights first – ahead of the parents or others. It requires that states act in the best interests of the child. This approach is different to the common law approach found in many countries that had previously treated children and wives as possessions or chattels, ownership of which was often argued over in family disputes. In many jurisdictions, properly implementing the Convention requires an overhaul of child custody and guardianship laws, or, at the very least, a creative approach within the existing laws.

The Convention also has two Optional Protocols, adopted by the General Assembly in May 2000 and applicable to those states that have signed and ratified them: The Optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the Optional protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Key Issues

Here are some of the major issues covered in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the related Articles:

• Protection without discrimination (Article 2)
• All decisions made about you must be in your best interest (Article 3)
• All young people have "evolving capacities" which must be acknowledged (Article 5)
• You have the right to life (Article 6)
• You have a right to a name and the right to acquire a nationality (Article 7)
• You have a right to know about your identity (Article 8)
• You can't be separated from your parents against your will, except when judged to be in your best interests (Article 9)
• If you are capable of forming your own views you also have the right to express those views and have them heard (Article12)
• You have the right to freedom of expression and information if it is within legal boundaries (Article 13)
• You have the right to thought, conscience and religion (Article 14)
• Your rights are protected so no one can interfere with your privacy, family or home (Article 16)
• Through the use of media you have the right to obtain information that will benefit you(Article17)
• The primary responsibility for your upbringing lies with your parents or legal guardians(Article18)
• You are to be protected from neglect and abuse (Article 19)
• Refugees who are children have the right to special assistance and protection (Article 22)
• Disabled children have the right to special care (Article 26)
• You have the right to health services and to have the highest attainable standard of health (Article 24)
• You have the right to benefit from social security (Article 26)
• You have the right to an adequate standard of living (Article 27)
• You have the right to have access to education (Article 28)
• If you are indigenous or of a minority group you have the right to practice your own religion and culture (Article 30)
• You have the right to take part in leisure, recreation and cultural activities (Article 31)
• You should be protected from economic exploitation (Article 32)
• You should be protected from illicit drugs (Article 33)
• You should be protected from sexual exploitation and abuse (Article 34)
• You have the right to be protected from abduction, sale or trafficking and all other forms of exploitation (Article 35 and 36)
• You are not to be subjected to torture, capital punishment or deprivation of liberty (Article 37)
• If you have faced neglect or abuse etc. the State has the responsibility to take all appropriate measures for rehabilitative care (Article 39)
• You have numerous rights in regard to the administration of justice and the criminal procedure (Article 40)

Adapted from [1]http://www.ncylc.org.au/croc/what.html

Signatories

According to UNICEF, the Convention has been ratified by 192 countries. Only Somalia and the United States have not ratified the CRC. Somalia is currently unable to proceed to ratification as it has no recognized government.

The United States, by signing the Convention, has signaled its intention to ratify – but has yet to do so. The United States examines and scrutinizes all treaties before ratification. This examination, which includes an evaluation of the degree of compatibility with existing law and practice in the country at state and federal levels, can take several years – or even longer if the treaty is portrayed as being controversial or if the process is politicized. In particular, the laws of several U.S. states authorizing execution of persons between the ages of 16 and 18 at the time of commission of the crime has been a major barrier to the USA's ratification of the Convention. It is uncertain what effect the 2005 Supreme Court decision in the case of Roper v. Simmons, prohibiting the execution of defendants who were minors at the time of commission of the crime, will have on the US ratification process.

See also

• Ansar Burney Trust - Fighting against child slavery
• Child labour and Worst forms of child labour
• UNICEF
• Children's rights movement
• Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
• Marian Wright Edelman
• Children's Defense Fund
• The Freechild Project
• Residence and contact
• Save the Children
• youth voice

External links

• Text of the Convention
• UNICEF web site
• Results of the convention - National Action Plans of the ratifiyng countries
• Representing Children Worldwide How Children Are Heard in Child Protective Proceedings in 250 Jurisdictions