United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a legal instrument, a guide defining and implementing children's rights, that was approved and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. It includes the rights to which every child is entitled, regardless of where born or to whom, regardless of sex, religion, or social origin. The convention includes the entire range of human rights: civil-political, economic-social-cultural, and humanitarian (Cohen & Naimark, 1991).

The convention is a binding document that holds the state and the government, as the legal mechanisms responsible in administering a country, accountable for the implementation of children's rights. With very few exceptions, all countries have ratified the convention. A notable exception is the United States, which has signaled its intention to ratify by formally signing the convention.

Although the convention is addressed to governments, it actually addresses the responsibilities of society. Full implementation of the standards in the convention can be possible only when they are appreciated by every member of the family and the community: professionals and staff in schools, in other public and private institutions, in services for children, in the courts, and at all levels of government administration. That is, individuals and institutions are expected to carry out their unique role and function in the society with respect to these standards.

The convention defines children as all human beings under the age of 18, unless the laws and regulations of a ratifying state set the legal end of childhood at an earlier age. The convention does not attempt to define how early in development a human being should be considered a child.

The articles in the convention can be broadly categorized into two categories: articles describing rights of children (rights of protection, rights of enhancement, rights for autonomous participation), and articles describing implementation procedures (Murphyberman, Levesque, & Berman, 1996). The first 41 articles of the convention involve the human rights to be respected and protected for every child, and the convention requires that these rights be implemented in light of its guiding principles of nondiscrimination, best interests of the child, maximum survival and development, and participation of children. These guiding principles are underlying values, serving as a reference for the implementation and monitoring of children's rights, guiding the way each right is fulfilled and respected. Articles 42 through 45 cover the responsibility of governments to disseminate the convention's principles and necessities to adults and children; the implementation and monitoring of progress toward the realization of children's rights through government's obligations; and the reporting obligations of governments. Articles 46 through 54 include the processes of accession and ratification by governments; the convention's admission into force; and the depositary function of the secretary-general of the United Nations. Two optional protocols, on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, were adopted in May 2000 in order to strengthen the supplies of the convention in these areas. They became effective as of January 18 and February 12, 2002. For recent developments and ongoing work focused on children's rights in the United Nations, the best source of information is UNICEF, whose Web site offers continuously updated information (http://www.unicef.org/crc/).

...