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 deals with the child-specific needs and rights. It requires that states act in the best interests of the child. This approach is different from 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

Many major issues are covered in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the related Articles ^*:

Protection without discrimination (Article 2)
All decisions made about children must be in their best interest (Article 3)
All young people have "evolving capacities" which must be acknowledged (Article 5)
Children have the right to life (Article 6)
They have a right to a name and the right to acquire a nationality (Article 7)
They have a right to know about their identity (Article 8)
They cannot be separated from their parents against their will, except when judged to be in their best interests (Article 9)
If a child is capable of forming his or her own views, they also have the right to express those views(Article 12)
Children have the right to freedom of expression and information if it is within legal boundaries (Article 13)
They have the right to thought, conscience and religion (Article 14)
Their rights are protected so no one can interfere with their privacy, family or home (Article 16)
Through the use of media children have the right to obtain information that will benefit them (Article 17)
The primary responsibility for the upbringing of children lies with their parents or legal guardians (Article 18)
Children are to be protected from neglect and abuse (Article 19)
Children who are refugees have the right to special assistance and protection (Article 22)
Disabled children have the right to special care (Article 23)
Children have the right to health services and to have the highest attainable standard of health (Article 24)
Children have the right to benefit from social security (Article 26)
They have the right to an adequate standard of living (Article 27)
They have the right to have access to education (Article 28)
If a child is a member of an indigenous or minority group he or she has the right to practice their own religion and culture (Article 30)
They have the right to take part in leisure, recreation and cultural activities (Article 31)
Children should be protected from economic exploitation (Article 32)
They should be protected from illicit drugs (Article 33)
They should be protected from sexual exploitation and abuse (Article 34)
They have the right to be protected from abduction, sale or trafficking and all other forms of exploitation (Article 35 and 36)
Children are not to be subjected to torture, capital punishment or deprivation of liberty (Article 37)
If children have faced neglect or abuse etc. the State has the responsibility to take all appropriate measures for rehabilitative care (Article 39)
Children have numerous rights in regard to the administration of justice and the criminal procedure (Article 40)

Signatories

According to UNICEF, the Convention has been ratified by 192 countries, or almost all members of the United Nations. 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.

On February 16, 1995, Madeleine Albright, at the time the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, signed the Convention. However, the United States Constitution requires that treaties receive the approval of two-thirds of the Senate. The attendant scrutiny of treaties by the Senate, 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.

The United States has had particular difficulties in ratifying the CRC due to strong opposition by conservatives to the treaty. The Bush administration has stated its opposition to the treaty:

"The Convention on the Rights of the Child may be a positive tool for promoting child welfare for those countries that have adopted it. But we believe the text goes too far when it asserts entitlements based on economic, social and cultural rights. ... The human rights-based approach ... poses significant problems as used in this text."

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
'Oppose the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child' HSLDA

Human rights instruments | Treaties | United Nations

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Key Issues

Signatories

See also

External links