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Save the Children

Eglantyne Jebb established the Save the Children Fund in England in 1919, in the aftermath of the First World War. Today's Save the Children organization often cites their founder with the saying: “All wars, disastrous or victorious, are waged against children.” In the early years of the Fund, Eglantyne Jebb perceived a need for the welfare of children and young people that extended beyond the acute problems of wartime and postconflict situation. In 1923 Eglantyne Jebb wrote the Children's Charter. This was adopted by the United Nations’ Declaration of the Rights of the Child in the 1950s. This in turn led to arguably one of the United Nations’ most successful pieces of international legislation, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), ratified by the vast majority of the world's countries.

Those articles of direct relevance to the spiritual and religious development of young people are highlighted here.

PART I: Children's Rights
Article 1 defines a child as “every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.”
Article 2 presents states’ responsibilities to “respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.”
Article 3 states that “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.”
Article 4 presents states’ responsibilities to “undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation.”
Article 5 presents the responsibilities of states to “respect the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents or, where applicable, the members of the extended family or community as provided for by local custom, legal guardians or other persons legally responsible for the child, to provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.”
Article 6 states that “Every child has the inherent right to life.” It presents the responsibilities of States to ensure “the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.”
Article 7 outlines the need for the child's birth to be registered immediately: “the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.”
Article 8 presents the responsibilities of states to “undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name, and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.”
Article 9 presents the responsibilities of states to “ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child.”
Article 10 deals with “applications by a child or his or her parents to enter or leave a State,” especially “for the purpose of family reunification” and the need for states to deal with such applications “in a positive, humane and expeditious manner.”
Article 11 outlines the responsibilities of states to take all measure “to combat the illicit transfer and non-return of children abroad.”
Article 12 outlines the responsibilities of states to “assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.”
Article 13 states that “The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.”
Article 14 states the rights of the child “to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.”
Article 15 states the rights of the child “to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly.”
Article 16 states that “No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation.”
398 ———Save the Children
Article 17 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has 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 well-being and physical and mental health.”
Article 18 presents the responsibilities of states to “use their best efforts to ensure recognition of the principle that both parents have common responsibilities for the upbringing and development of the child. Parents or, as the case may be, legal guardians, have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of the child. The best interests of the child will be their basic concern.”
Article 19 presents the responsibilities of states to “take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.”
Article 20 states that “A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or in whose own best interests cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State.”
Article 21 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize and/or permit the system of adoption shall ensure that the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.”
Article 22 presents the responsibilities of states to take appropriate measures to protect refugee children.
Article 23 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child's active participation in the community.”
Article 24 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health.”
Article 25 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize the right of a child who has been placed by the competent authorities for the purposes of care, protection or treatment of his or her physical or mental health, to a periodic review of the treatment provided to the child and all other circumstances relevant to his or her placement.”
Article 26 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize for every child the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance, and shall take the necessary measures to achieve the full realization of this right in accordance with their national law.”
Article 27 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.” The Article also recognizes that the parent(s) or others responsible for the child have the primary responsibility to secure, within their abilities and financial capacities, the conditions of living necessary for the child's development.”
Article 28 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity.” In particular, this involves making “primary education compulsory and available free to all,” the encouragement of secondary education and making higher education “accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means.”
Article 29 outlines some general comments on the implementation of Article 28.
Article 30 states, “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.”
Article 31 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.”
Article 32 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.”
Article 33 presents the responsibilities of states to “take all appropriate measures, including legislative, administrative, social and educational measures, to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.”
Article 34 presents the responsibilities of states to “undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.”
Article 35 presents the responsibilities of states to “take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form.”
Article 36 presents the responsibilities of states to “protect the child against all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child's welfare.”
Article 37 states that “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age.”
Article 38 presents the responsibilities of states to “undertake to respect and to ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts which are relevant to the child.”
Article 39 presents the responsibilities of states to “take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child.”
Article 40 presents the responsibilities of states to “recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's sense of dignity and worth.”
Article 41 states that “Nothing in the present Convention shall affect any provisions which are more conducive to the realization of the rights of the child and which may be contained in the law of a State party or international law in force for that State.”
SOURCE: Convention on the Rights of the Child (20 November 1989, entry into force 2 September 1990). PARTS II-III (Articles 42–54) refer to procedural matters. For a full text of this document, follow links at http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm.

Save the Children is one of the world's foremost nongovernmental organizations for the care of young people in need. Although its origins are from the carnage of war, the Save the Children Foundation that emerged in the 1920s from the Save the Children Fund developed a remit extending well beyond. In 1932, Save the Children (United States) was founded by John Voris moved by the plight of hunger and deprivation of Appalachian children, a concern for basic welfare programs such as the “Hot School Lunch” that extended through the United States. By the time of the Second World War the organization had emerged as a mature organization operating through many countries in war-ravaged Europe. By the 1960s, operations had extended to Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The 1979 United Nations “Year of the Child” significantly extended awareness of children's issues and helped facilitate a massive expansion of Save the Children's operations. It was there to respond to the cataclysmic Ethiopian famine in 1984.

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