The Convention
Since its adoption in 1989 after more than 60 years of advocacy, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified more quickly and by more governments (all except Somalia and the US) than any other human rights instrument.
This Convention is also the only international human rights treaty that expressly gives non-governmental organizations (NGOs) a role in monitoring its implementation (under Article 45a).
The basic premise of the Convention is that children (all human beings below the age of 18) are born with fundamental freedoms and the inherent rights of all human beings. Many governments have enacted legislation, created mechanisms and put into place a range of creative measures to ensure the protection and realization of the rights of those under the age of 18. Each government must also report back on children's rights in their country.
Optional Protocols
Two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child exist:
•The Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, dated 18 January 2002 (A/RES/54/263, dated 25 May 2000)
•Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict Adopted (A/RES/54/263, dated 25 May 2000)
Guiding principles of the Convention
Definition of the child (Article 1)
The Convention defines a 'child' as a person below the age of 18, unless the laws of a particular country set the legal age for adulthood younger. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, the monitoring body for the Convention, has encouraged States to review the age of majority if it is set below 18 and to increase the level of protection for all children under 18.
Non-discrimination (Article 2)
The Convention applies to all children, whatever their race, religion or
abilities; whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from. It doesn’t matter where children live, what language they speak, what their parents do, whether they are boys or girls, what their culture is, whether they have a disability or whether they are rich or poor. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis.
Best interests of the child (Article 3)
The best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect them. All adults should do what is best for children. When adults make decisions, they should think about how their decisions will affect children. This particularly applies to budget, policy and law makers.
Right to life, survival and development (Article 6)
Children have the right to live. Governments should ensure that children survive and develop healthily.
Respect for the views of the child (Article 12)
When adults are making decisions that affect children, children have the right to say what they think should happen and have their opinions taken into account. This does not mean that children can now tell their parents what to do. This Convention encourages adults to listen to the opinions of children and involve them in decision-making -- not give children authority over adults. Article 12 does not interfere with parents' right and responsibility to express their views on matters affecting their children. Moreover, the Convention recognizes that the level of a child’s participation in decisions must be appropriate to the child's level of maturity. Children's ability to form and express their opinions develops with age and most adults will naturally give the views of teenagers greater weight than those of a preschooler, whether in family, legal or administrative decisions.
Committee on the Rights of the Child
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is a body of experts monitoring the implementation of the CRC by States Parties to the Convention. The Committee holds regular sessions per year to review States Parties reports on progress made in fulfilling their obligations under the Convention and its Options Protocols. The Committee can make suggestions and issue recommendations to governments and the General Assembly on ways to meet the Convention's objectives.
Information and links on the Committee's activities:
•CRC sessions
The Committee meets three times a year for a period of three weeks in January, May-June and September. Each session, the Committee examines reports from about 10 States Parties, discusses issues with a government delegation and issues recommendations (called "Concluding Observations").
NGOs are invited to submit "Alternative Reports" to States Parties reports to give a different perspective to the Committee. All Alternative Reports are made available through the NGO Group for the CRC and hosted on the CRIN website by session. NGO reports can also be searched on the CRIN website by country, session and author.
Informations about past and forthcoming sessions, including State reports and Concluding Observations can be found on the website of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
•Days of General Discussion
Once a year, at its September session, the Committee holds a Day of General Discussion (DGD) on a provision of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in order to issue more detailed recommendations to governments. Each year, children, NGOs and experts are invited to submit documents to inform the Committee's one-day debate with stakeholders (UN agencies, Committee members, NGOs, academics, lawyers, children, etc).
All submitted documents are posted on the CRIN website. Further information on Days of General Discussion is available on the OHCHR website.
•Report to the UN General Assembly
Once a year, the Committee submits a report to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, hears a statement from the CRC Chair and the GA adopts a Resolution on the Rights of the Child. Read the 2006 CRC Report to the GA and the 2006 GA Resolution on the Rights of the Child.
•Regional workshops on follow up to Concluding Observations
OHCHR, in cooperation with host governments, occasionally organises regional and sub-regional workshops to follow up on implementation of the Convention and other Treaty Bodies’ Concluding Observations. CRC workshops have been held in Damascus (Syria), Bangkok (Thailand), Doha (Qatar), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Suva (Fiji) and San José (Costa Rica), and recommendations have been issued to the regions concerned.
Informations is available on the CRIN website and the OHCHR website.
•General Comments
The Committee occasionally publishes its interpretation of provisions of the Convention in the form of General Comments, sometimes, following a Day of General Discussion debate.
Informations available on the CRIN website and the OHCHR website.
For regular news updates on the CRC and the activities of the Committee, visit CRIN's CRC news page.
Schoolchildren, children affected by armed conflict, youth, and community and civil society groups around the world are mobilizing to send one million “red hands” to the United Nations in New York by early 2009. On February 12, 2009, the anniversary of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, children from all continents hope to present a portion of these “red hands” to the UN Secretary-General to emphasize the need for international action to end the use of child soldiers.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers adopted the “red hand” symbol in 1998 as part of its worldwide campaign against the use of child soldiers. After the entry into force of the Optional Protocol on February 12, 2002, Coalition partners have used this day as “Red Hand” day, with many organizing local events utilizing the red hand to raise awareness about the child soldier issue.
In 2007, Coalition partners in Germany proposed a global campaign to collect one million red hands for presentation at the UN on February 12, 2009. The campaign encourages participants, particularly schoolchildren, to make hand prints with red ink on A4 paper, together with a personal message about their desire to end the use of child soldiers.
Armed Conflict and the Convention on the Rights of the Child
The CRC contains several articles that specifically refer to this issue, namely article 38 on armed conflict and article 39 on the rehabilitative care of child victims of armed conflicts. CRIN launched a Children in Armed Conflict email list following the International Conference on War-Affected Children in Winnipeg, Canada (September 2000) [archives are available].
Additionally, on 12 February 2002, the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict entered into force.
You can read more about the entry into force of the Optional Protocol on children and armed conflict [CRINMAIL 356]
Since its adoption in 1989 after more than 60 years of advocacy, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified more quickly and by more governments (all except Somalia and the US) than any other human rights instrument.
This Convention is also the only international human rights treaty that expressly gives non-governmental organizations (NGOs) a role in monitoring its implementation (under Article 45a).
The basic premise of the Convention is that children (all human beings below the age of 18) are born with fundamental freedoms and the inherent rights of all human beings. Many governments have enacted legislation, created mechanisms and put into place a range of creative measures to ensure the protection and realization of the rights of those under the age of 18. Each government must also report back on children's rights in their country.
Optional Protocols
Two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child exist:
•The Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, dated 18 January 2002 (A/RES/54/263, dated 25 May 2000)
•Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict Adopted (A/RES/54/263, dated 25 May 2000)
Guiding principles of the Convention
Definition of the child (Article 1)
The Convention defines a 'child' as a person below the age of 18, unless the laws of a particular country set the legal age for adulthood younger. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, the monitoring body for the Convention, has encouraged States to review the age of majority if it is set below 18 and to increase the level of protection for all children under 18.
Non-discrimination (Article 2)
The Convention applies to all children, whatever their race, religion or
abilities; whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from. It doesn’t matter where children live, what language they speak, what their parents do, whether they are boys or girls, what their culture is, whether they have a disability or whether they are rich or poor. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis.
Best interests of the child (Article 3)
The best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect them. All adults should do what is best for children. When adults make decisions, they should think about how their decisions will affect children. This particularly applies to budget, policy and law makers.
Right to life, survival and development (Article 6)
Children have the right to live. Governments should ensure that children survive and develop healthily.
Respect for the views of the child (Article 12)
When adults are making decisions that affect children, children have the right to say what they think should happen and have their opinions taken into account. This does not mean that children can now tell their parents what to do. This Convention encourages adults to listen to the opinions of children and involve them in decision-making -- not give children authority over adults. Article 12 does not interfere with parents' right and responsibility to express their views on matters affecting their children. Moreover, the Convention recognizes that the level of a child’s participation in decisions must be appropriate to the child's level of maturity. Children's ability to form and express their opinions develops with age and most adults will naturally give the views of teenagers greater weight than those of a preschooler, whether in family, legal or administrative decisions.
Committee on the Rights of the Child
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is a body of experts monitoring the implementation of the CRC by States Parties to the Convention. The Committee holds regular sessions per year to review States Parties reports on progress made in fulfilling their obligations under the Convention and its Options Protocols. The Committee can make suggestions and issue recommendations to governments and the General Assembly on ways to meet the Convention's objectives.
Information and links on the Committee's activities:
•CRC sessions
The Committee meets three times a year for a period of three weeks in January, May-June and September. Each session, the Committee examines reports from about 10 States Parties, discusses issues with a government delegation and issues recommendations (called "Concluding Observations").
NGOs are invited to submit "Alternative Reports" to States Parties reports to give a different perspective to the Committee. All Alternative Reports are made available through the NGO Group for the CRC and hosted on the CRIN website by session. NGO reports can also be searched on the CRIN website by country, session and author.
Informations about past and forthcoming sessions, including State reports and Concluding Observations can be found on the website of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
•Days of General Discussion
Once a year, at its September session, the Committee holds a Day of General Discussion (DGD) on a provision of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in order to issue more detailed recommendations to governments. Each year, children, NGOs and experts are invited to submit documents to inform the Committee's one-day debate with stakeholders (UN agencies, Committee members, NGOs, academics, lawyers, children, etc).
All submitted documents are posted on the CRIN website. Further information on Days of General Discussion is available on the OHCHR website.
•Report to the UN General Assembly
Once a year, the Committee submits a report to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, hears a statement from the CRC Chair and the GA adopts a Resolution on the Rights of the Child. Read the 2006 CRC Report to the GA and the 2006 GA Resolution on the Rights of the Child.
•Regional workshops on follow up to Concluding Observations
OHCHR, in cooperation with host governments, occasionally organises regional and sub-regional workshops to follow up on implementation of the Convention and other Treaty Bodies’ Concluding Observations. CRC workshops have been held in Damascus (Syria), Bangkok (Thailand), Doha (Qatar), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Suva (Fiji) and San José (Costa Rica), and recommendations have been issued to the regions concerned.
Informations is available on the CRIN website and the OHCHR website.
•General Comments
The Committee occasionally publishes its interpretation of provisions of the Convention in the form of General Comments, sometimes, following a Day of General Discussion debate.
Informations available on the CRIN website and the OHCHR website.
For regular news updates on the CRC and the activities of the Committee, visit CRIN's CRC news page.
Schoolchildren, children affected by armed conflict, youth, and community and civil society groups around the world are mobilizing to send one million “red hands” to the United Nations in New York by early 2009. On February 12, 2009, the anniversary of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, children from all continents hope to present a portion of these “red hands” to the UN Secretary-General to emphasize the need for international action to end the use of child soldiers.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers adopted the “red hand” symbol in 1998 as part of its worldwide campaign against the use of child soldiers. After the entry into force of the Optional Protocol on February 12, 2002, Coalition partners have used this day as “Red Hand” day, with many organizing local events utilizing the red hand to raise awareness about the child soldier issue.
In 2007, Coalition partners in Germany proposed a global campaign to collect one million red hands for presentation at the UN on February 12, 2009. The campaign encourages participants, particularly schoolchildren, to make hand prints with red ink on A4 paper, together with a personal message about their desire to end the use of child soldiers.
Armed Conflict and the Convention on the Rights of the Child
The CRC contains several articles that specifically refer to this issue, namely article 38 on armed conflict and article 39 on the rehabilitative care of child victims of armed conflicts. CRIN launched a Children in Armed Conflict email list following the International Conference on War-Affected Children in Winnipeg, Canada (September 2000) [archives are available].
Additionally, on 12 February 2002, the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict entered into force.
You can read more about the entry into force of the Optional Protocol on children and armed conflict [CRINMAIL 356]
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