Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child on November 20, 1989. The Convention has one signatory – the United States – and 196 countries have ratified or acceded to it. (Signatories are qualified to ratify, accept or approve a treaty. Ratification is an 'international act' whereby a State indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty.)The Convention’s Preamble recognises that children need special safeguards, care and legal protection, before and after birth, due to their “physical and mental immaturity.” It invokes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, stating that everyone is entitled to the rights and freedoms enshrined in these treaties, without distinction of any kind.The 54 Articles of this 7,610-word Convention are divided into three parts. Part I (Articles 1-41) covers recommendations to State Parties on safeguarding the rights of the child. Part II (Articles 42-45) proposes establishing a Committee on the Rights of the Child comprising nationals of the State Parties to the Convention, and prescribes the manner in which State Parties shall report the measures they have adopted to observe the rights recognised by the Convention. Part III (Article 42-45) discusses the process by which the Convention is to be ratified and amended. (In UN documents, a ‘State Party’ to a treaty is a country that has ratified or acceded to that particular treaty, and is therefore legally bound by the provisions in the instrument).The following are excerpts from 10 of the 54 Articles, which remain especially relevant to the present times:Article 1: A child means every human being below the age of 18 years, unless “…under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.”Article 2:  States Parties shall – within their jurisdiction – ensure the rights set forth in the Convention to each child without discrimination based on the child’s national, ethnic or social origin, or their race, colour, gender, language, religion, disability, political or other opinion, disability or any other status.Article 4: States Parties shall implement legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure the rights recognised in this Convention...