United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child

everyone has human rights children are of course human too and they enjoy many of the rights that adults do in international human rights treaties what many people don't know is that there's also a treaty that's dedicated just to children the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child we'll take a closer look at the convention later but it's important to understand that the idea that children should have rights dates much farther back there's been a long-standing focus on protecting vulnerable children as a charitable response to suffering however at the start of the 20th century some activists started promoting the idea that children should have rights in the aftermath of the First World War eglantine Jeb and others campaigned for the first international declaration of the right of the child in 1924 an expanded version of this was adopted by the United Nations in 1959 during the International Year of the child in 1979 Poland proposed that there should be a convention for children over the next decade countries around the world debated and negotiated the text of what would become the most widely supported human rights treaty the UN ever produced the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child the United Nations is an international organization committed to maintaining peace and security and to promoting human rights one of the ways it does this is through international human rights agreements based on three core principles of human rights dignity equality and respect the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of these and sets a global human rights agenda for every person under the age of 18 it was recognized by the vast majority of UN member states in 1989 and is now the most ratified human rights treaty countries that ratified treaties are called States Parties in agreeing to be bound by these treaties they become known as Duty bearers meaning they have a duty to uphold the articles of the Convention in practice this includes everyone who works for the government such as police officers lawyers teachers and social workers those who benefit from human rights treaties are known as rights holders so in this case anyone under the age of 18 is a rights holder this applies irrespective of their sex religion race disability and even whether they're a citizen of the country or not parents are also rights holders under the Convention they are entitled to assistance from the state in raising their children and they're entitled to provide their child with advice and guidance as the convention is an agreement between states parties individual citizens do not have any responsibility to uphold it however if they work for or act on behalf of the country's government then they do for example if there's a culture of bullying in a school the school has a responsibility to take appropriate action so that all children can learn in a safe environment the children are not under any obligations under the Convention but should of course be guided by staff not to infringe the rights of the child being bullied the convention describes the obligations States Parties have to all children living within its borders the convention is wide reaching and covers many aspects of children's lives rights are described by articles there are four important articles that apply across all other rights in the convention these general principles are non-discrimination the best interest of the child the right to life survival and development and the right for children's views to be given to wait the other rights can be grouped into five categories including civil rights and freedoms family environment and alternative care health and welfare education leisure and Culture and special protection measures that cover children in emergency situations in justice systems Child Exploitation and children belonging to minority groups these rights are indivisible and interdependent that means that the failure to provide for one can affect the enjoyment of the other for example if the state fails to ensure children have an adequate standard of living children might not be healthy or able to develop or learn to their full potential an additional three optional protocols have also been included in the convention over the years related to military conflict the sale of children and individual complaints by children to the committee the main way the convention is enforced is through ongoing monitoring by a team of independent experts called the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child States Parties must submit a progress report to the committee every five years and their assessment is supplemented with information from other organizations such as NGOs and Children's Commissioners children can also submit evidence to the committee sometimes in person by attending the committee meeting the output from the whole process is a report called the concluding observations it summarizes the committee's views on the state of children's right in each country but it doesn't stop there the report also provides implementation and improvement recommendations to each individual state which it will review the next time the country is examined the convention requires States to put its obligations into local laws such as national constitutions and legislation if this is done the principles can be enforced in local the committee also suggests that to ensure meaningful rights protection is afforded to every child state should have a national plan for children monitor how much of the budget is spent on children conduct regular impact assessments throughout every government department using reliable data about children's lives and have an independent children's Ombudsman another important way to ensure the Convention is properly implemented is by raising awareness of its existence countries must make sure that it is widely known by both adults and children regular training of both adults and children contributes to the creation of societies that respect the rights of children the Convention on the Rights of the Child matters more than many people imagine for one in recognizing that children are rightholders and that states are Duty bearers governments and all those who work for them are bound by a set of internationally ratified human rights articles that must be adhered to this means that Duty bearers must consider and apply the provisions of the Convention in all aspects of their work that affect children this means that they should respect protect and fulfil all of the obligations to which they have signed up the convention means that states can be held accountable for their actions in relation to children not only will the Committee on the Rights of the Child monitor and report on their progress but children's organizations and advocates and children themselves can use the standards to argue change children's rights ensure their children are no longer relying on charity or kindness to me their needs full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child there's a long way to ensuring that each child's entitlement to equality dignity and respect in upheld every child everywhere should enjoy the rights contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Channel: School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast

Views: 307,720

Keywords: Queen's, University, Belfast, united nations, council of europe, children's rights

Id: TFMqTDIYI2U

Length: 9min 0sec (540 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 04 2016