RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Rights of the Child

Rights of the Child

Introduction

As the most vulnerable population, children are at particular risk of suffering from human rights abuses. In many parts of the world, children are exploited for labor and as sexual slaves. In conflict zones, children are abducted and forced to take part in combat. Street children are frequently singled out by police and brutalized or imprisoned with adults in inhumane conditions. AIDS has created millions of orphans without families to care for them or are placed in institutions where they are mistreated. Without power or voice, they have, in the words of Human Rights Watch, "fallen through the cracks in the international human rights arena" (Goldhagen 2003, 742-745).

Most human rights campaigns focus on the rights of adults, especially political dissidents. To redress the gap, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in November 1989; it went into force in 1990. The preamble states that children "should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding." Children should be "protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members." Children are promised the same rights as guaranteed by other UN conventions to adults: the right to life, liberty, education, and health care. The convention makes it illegal to use children in armed conflict and protects them from discrimination; torture; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; and sexual and economic exploitation. Most states ratified the convention, yet in spite of its lofty principles, hideous abuses and violations of the rights of children take place throughout the world (Cohen and Naimark 1991, 60-65).

Discussion

Children are subject to widespread discrimination. The most egregious types of discrimination are directed at females who are derided as inferior in many parts of the world. Demographers believe that there are 60-100 million fewer females in the world than there should be. One possible explanation is that they have been killed off by families who do not want them by means of infanticide, abortion, malnutrition, and neglect. The practice of aborting female fetuses was a special problem in China, where the government promulgated a one-family, one-child policy to curb the rise in population. Because they would be fined if they had more than one child, many mothers in rural areas would have abortions if they were carrying a girl (Harris 2003, 130-182).

UN Convention on Child Rights

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 12, 1989, bans discrimination against children and provides for special protection and rights for minors. The convention, which defines children as anyone under age 18, emphasizes the primary importance of families—and parents in particular—in protecting Children's Rights. It does not usurp the authority of the family in favour of the government, as some detractors have charged. Rather, governments of signatory states are required to fulfil certain obligations to help ...