1. Highlights of the UN Convention On the Rights of the Child
UNCRC
Highlights of the UN Convention On the Rights of the Child

2. What is the Convention?

3. The Six United Nations Human Rights Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (1966)
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (1966)
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)
Convention against Torture, and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (1984)
Convention on Rights of the Child (1989)

4. Human Rights Fall into Three Broad Groups
Rights that extend to BOTH children and adults
Rights that extend to adults, but NOT to children
Rights that extend ONLY to children

5. Rights that Apply to Children AND Adults
Many rights recognized in international law are also included in the Convention, thus explicitly asserting that they apply equally to children, as well as to adults.
These include the following rights:
Life
Freedom of expression
Education
Due process before the law
Non-discrimination

6. 2. Rights of Adults that Do NOT Extend to Children
Children do not have these rights:
To vote
Autonomy to take decisions independently of
those who have responsibility for them
To the adult right to self-determination

7. 3. Rights that Apply ONLY to Children
Additional rights exist for children that reflect their need for special protection because of their youth, vulnerability, and developing status. Included are these rights:
To play
To have their best interests given primary consideration
To protection from abuse and exploitation
To alternative care when families cannot provide it

8. Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
• The UNCRC is an international agreement across the world which sets out rights of children between the age of 0 and 18.
It has been in existence for 26 years following the adoption by the UN General Committee in 1989 and it is the most widely adopted of all international agreements. Only two countries, the U.S. and Somalia have not adopted it. Somalia has no recognized government and U.S. is in the process of doing to.
The UNCRC itself consists of 54 articles. (Articles spell out how governments and international organizations like UNICEF should work to ensure these rights.)

9. What is a right?
• Human rights are the basic things that all human beings are entitled to in order to survive and to develop. Every single person regardless of their age has human rights, and the Government has a responsibility to make sure that people’s rights can be accessed, are respected can be enjoyed.
• Children and young people need special rights because they are relatively more vulnerable compared to adults. The UNCRC brings together children’s human rights into one international convention.
• The Government has a responsibility to ensure that all people understand and respect Children’s Rights - this includes children and young people, parents, families, carers, teachers etc.

10. Rights within the UNCRC are:-
Universal – The same for everyone regardless of race, sex religion politics etc
Indivisible – They are equally important and Interdependent
Inalienable –All human beings have rights and they cannot be taken away
It is also important to remember that they are unconditional – You do not have to behave in a certain way or qualify for them. You get them by simply being alive!

11. What Rights does the Convention Contain?
Social Rights
Economic Rights
Cultural Rights
Protective Rights
Civil and Political Rights
These rights are indivisible and universal.
There is no hierarchy of rights.

12. Underlying Principles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Article 2. All the rights in the Convention apply to all children without discrimination on any grounds.
Article 3. In all actions affecting children their best interests must be a primary consideration.
Article 6. All children have the right to life and optimal survival and development.
Article 12. All children capable of expressing a view have the right to express that view freely and to have it taken seriously in accordance with their age and maturity.

13. What Does the Convention Do?

14. What does the Convention Do
Promote a philosophy of respect for children
Recognizes children as subjects of legal rights
Challenges traditional views of children as passive recipients of care and protection
Insists that children are entitled to have their needs met and thereby imposes obligation on adults

15. The Convention Requires that Governments
Implement the Convention’s rights without discrimination for all children
Make the Convention widely known to both children and adults
Report regularly to the Committee on the Rights of the Child

16. Types of Rights Contained in the Convention
Social rights
Economic rights
Protective rights
Cultural rights
Civil and Political rights

17. Examples of Social and Economic Rights Contained in the Convention
Social rights. The right to life and optimal survival and development, to the best possible health and access to health care, to education, to play, to family life unless not in the child’s best interests
Economic rights. The right to an adequate standard of living for proper development, to benefit from social security, the right to protection from economic exploitation

18. Examples of Protective and Cultural Rights Contained in the Convention
Protective rights. The right to promotion of the child’s best interests, to protection from sexual exploitation, from armed conflict, from harmful drugs, from abuse and neglect, the right to rehabilitative care following neglect, exploitation or abuse
Cultural rights. The right to respect for language, culture and religion, to abolition of any traditional practices likely to be prejudicial to the child’s health

19. Examples of Civil and Political Rights Contained in the Convention
Civil and political rights. Examples are the rights:
to be heard and taken seriously
to freedom from discrimination in the exercise of rights on any grounds
to freedom of expression
to privacy
to information
to respect for physical and personal integrity
to freedom from all forms of violence, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment