Children's Rights

All human beings have the same basic needs regardless of their age, gender, colour, religion, nationality, ethnicity and place of residence or any other status. These needs include amongst other food, shelter, education, health and protection from discrimination and abuse in any form as well as the right to participate in society, and the freedoms of thought, speech, religion, assembly and movement, and the right to a fair trial.

In the aftermath of the 2nd World War the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted in the United Nations (UN) in 1948, declaring that it is a right for all human beings to have their basic needs met. The declaration is based on the understanding that people whose basic needs are not met, do not only suffer, but are also more inclined to engage  in conflicts like war.

Following the UDHR, a range of international sets of rules for human rights, called conventions, have been adopted. They target the rights of specific vulnerable groups or key human rights issues, see the factsheets for an overview.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is among the nine core international human rights conventions, also called treaties. It was adopted by the UN on November 20th 1989. Since then it has been ratified by 196 countries who agree to protect children’s rights in accordance with the convention. The CRC is thus the human rights convention that most countries have signed and ratified. The only exception (at the time of publishing) is the United States of America who has signed the convention but not ratified it and thus are not legally bound by the convention.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child describes the rights which are especially relevant to protect children and their development, equality, and democratic participation.

You can find an overview of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the fact sheets.