Child Rights: History, Facts & How To Protect Them
Despite much progress in recent decades, millions of children are still living without their basic rights. Now more than ever, children’s lives are being touched by violence, conflict and the impacts of climate change.
Globally, an estimated 800 million children live in fragile and conflict-affected areas where child rights are often denied and childhoods are stolen by abuse, exploitation and slavery.
At World Vision, we believe that every child deserves a childhood in all its fullness, surrounded by protective families and communities, free from violence and with the opportunity to thrive as other children do.
Poverty, exploitation and violence are not inevitable. Many of the problems that children face are a consequence of exploitative practices and education gaps in both developed and developing communities.
In a protective environment where children’s rights are respected, the world’s most vulnerable children can flourish and reach their highest potential. We are committed to pursuing these rights so children can enjoy a full childhood.
Put simply, child rights are the human rights of children. Every child, regardless of their age, race, gender, wealth or birthplace, has rights.
These rights are enshrined in international law in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It recognises all children must be treated fairly, equally and with dignity. The child rights convention laws are non-discriminatory and are always in the best interests of the child.
A child is recognised and described by the United Nations (UN) children’s rights convention as every human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, adulthood is attained earlier.
The UN’s child rights state that children are entitled to special protection and assistance because they are considered vulnerable. According to the CRC, all children should grow up in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity, and all nations have a responsibility to provide these rights by the law of the UN.
World Vision advocates the clear framework established by the UN children’s rights convention, which secures protection for children and respect for their rights, as well as the calls for governments and parents to take action to ensure child rights are protected, respected and fulfilled. It is up to all of us to ensure we do all we can to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.
When children’s rights are protected, children stand a much better chance of growing up in a society that allows them to thrive.
At World Vision, we see children as agents of transformation. When we partner with communities on community-led projects – powered by people like you – we can help protect them from abuse, forced labour and conflict. We help them to build a brighter future for themselves and the next generation of children to come.
We have a responsibility for the children who participate in our programs. We teach children about their rights, equipping them with the skills to speak up for themselves and educating their communities about what is and what isn’t acceptable behaviour towards children.
We push for policy change at a local, national and global level so that we can impact the largest number of children possible through our work.
Following the devastating aftermath of the world wars of the 20th century and their psychological and physical impact on children, the United Nations (UN) decided that the human rights of children required special protection.
After World War I, the League of Nations (which would later become the UN) drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which included the rights to life, food, shelter, education, freedom of speech and religion, justice and peace.
Recognising that children were especially vulnerable, the UN agreed to adopt the Declaration of Geneva on Children’s Rights. This declaration was short with only five statements, but it outlined a list of responsibilities towards children who were considered vulnerable.
After the Second World War, the United Nations General Assembly accepted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. This declaration paved the way for the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, which became the first legally binding international text to protect children’s rights.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. It sets out the rights of children in 54 articles and is guided by four beliefs:
Article 1 – A child means every human being below the age of 18.
Article 2 – States parties must ensure all rights apply to children regardless of their age, race, religion, gender, wealth or birthplace.
Article 3 – All signatories to the convention must work towards actions in the best interests of the child.
Article 4 – Governments must make these rights available to all children.
Article 5 – Governments and parents must ensure children are equipped with the knowledge to understand their rights.
Article 6 – All children have an inherent right to life.
Article 7 – Governments should respect a child’s right to a name and nationality.
Article 8 – Governments must respect a child’s right to their own identity.
Article 9 – Children should not be removed from their parents unless for their own good.
Article 10 – Families living in different countries should be able to move between them so children can have direct contact with both parents.
Article 11 – Governments must take all measures to combat the illegal removal of children from their country.
Article 12 – Children have the right to express their views freely in all matters affecting them.
Article 13 – Children have the right to freedom of expression and can seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds.
Article 14 – Governments should respect the right of children to have freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Article 15 – Children have the right to freedom of association.
Article 16 – Children have the right to privacy.
Article 17 – Governments should ensure children have access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral wellbeing and health.
Article 18 – Both parents have common responsibilities for the upbringing and development of the child, with the best interests of the child their basic concern.
Article 19 – Governments should ensure children are protected from all forms of physical and mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Article 20 – Children who cannot be cared for by their own parents should be looked after by people who respect their religion, culture and language.
Article 21 – When a child is adopted, their best interests should be the utmost priority.
Article 22 – Children who enter a country as refugees should have the same rights as children born in that country.
Article 23 – Children with any kind of disability must have special care and support.
Article 24 - Children have the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health. Governments should work towards the development of healthcare and diminish disease and child mortality.
Article 25 – Children placed in care have the right to have their situation reviewed by their local authorities regularly.
Article 26 – Governments should provide the right resources for children if they need to benefit from social security.
Article 27 – All children have the right to a standard of living adequate for their physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
Article 28 – All children have the right to an education.
Article 29 – Education should help the development of a child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities so they can reach their full potential.
Article 30 – Children have the right to practise their own religion or language.
Article 31 – All children have the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
Article 32 – Governments must protect children from economic exploitation or performing work that can interfere with their education or could be harmful to their development.
Article 33 – Governments must take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect children from the illicit use of drugs and prevent use of children in the production and trafficking of such substances.
Article 34 – Governments must protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation.
Article 35 – Governments must protect children from being abducted, sold or trafficked.
Article 36 – Children must be protected from all forms of exploitation that can harm their welfare.
Article 37 – No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel treatment or punishment; no child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall only be used as a last report and for the shortest appropriate period of time.
Article 38 – Governments should take all feasible measures to ensure that children under the age of 15 don't take direct part in armed conflicts.
Article 39 – Governments should take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of children exposed to neglect, exploitation or abuse.
Article 40 – Children accused of breaking the law should receive legal help.
Article 41 – If the laws of a country protect a child better than the articles of the convention, then the laws should be followed.
Article 42 – Governments should make this convention widely known to adults and children.
Article 43-54 – These articles contain methods for institutions, organisations and individuals to ensure respect for child rights.
In 2019, the world marked the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on World Children’s Day, 20 November. World Children’s Day is an opportunity to raise awareness on child rights, inspire a recommitment from governments and communities to realise those rights, promote accountability and spur people to act.
In alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, full realisation of the CRC would result in a world where no-one – no child – is left behind.
World Vision works in more than 90 countries to improve child wellbeing and is committed to the objectives of the CRC.
In an ideal world, signatories to the convention would apply each article to their own country’s educational, health, legal and social services. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Across the globe, hundreds of millions of children are being denied their dignity, freedom, future and childhood when their rights are not protected by these signatories.
The International Labour Organization (ILO), estimates that 218 million children are working as child labourers around the world. These children are refused the opportunity to go to school, play with friends or receive the right nutrition and care for a healthy and fulfilled life. Instead, they are forced to work long hours for little reward.
Many children are being exploited through mentally and physically dangerous work that involves hazardous workplaces and exploitative acts such as slavery, drug trafficking, prostitution and armed conflict. These environments negatively impact a child’s wellbeing and development and can deny the child’s rights to survival, protection and education.
