ABSTRACT

UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Over history there have been a number of international treaties and documents that outline the rights of
a child. Prior to World War II the League of Nations had adopted the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of
the Child in 1924. The United Nations (UN) took its first step towards declaring the importance of child
rights by establishing the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in 1946 (The name was
shortened to United Nations Children's Fund in 1953, but kept the popular acronym UNICEF). Two years
later the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, making it the first UN
document to recognise children's need for protection.

The first UN document specially focused on child rights was the Declaration on the Rights of the Child, but
instead of being a legally binding document it was more like a moral guide of conduct for governments. It
was not until 1989 that the global community adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child, making it the first international legally binding document concerning child rights. The
convention consists of 54 articles covering all four major categories of child rights: Right to life, Right to
development, Right to protection, and Right to participation. It came into force on the 2nd September
1990.

The initiative to create a body of rights for children came from the draft document submitted by the
Government of Poland to the Commission on human rights in 1978. A decade was spent drafting the
Convention by an alliance of a number of small NGOs including Radda Barnen of Sweden, the
International Child Catholic Bureau, and Defence for Children International, and United Nations human
rights experts. Today the convention has been ratified by 192 countries becoming the most ratified of all
international Human Rights treaties. India signed and ratified the convention in 1992. The only two
countries who have not ratified the treaty are the United States and Somalia. Somalia has been unable to
ratify due to the lack of a stable government and the US has signed the treaty showing their intention to
ratify.

UNITED CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

"There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty
more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected,
that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace"

KOFI ANNAN

INTRODUCTION:
In this world all human beings are born free with equal rights and human dignity. Irrespective
of adults or children, everyone has the equal rights as a result of our common humanity. Each
and every right are interrelated, independent and indivisible.

According to the statement made by the Late American President John. F. Kennedy,
“Children are considered to be the most important and valuable source of the future who
require proper education, attention, care and investment in terms of health, nutrition,
education, security and overall growth”. Therefore the need to recognise the certain rights of
the child was recognised by the policy makers at the international level (i.e.,) The United
Nation. If the children are to be recognised as a true resources there is a need of investment
for an all-round development and the growth of the children.

UNCRC:

In 1989 something incredible happened where the leaders from all around the world made a
profound decision of creating a convention of protecting the child’s rights. By this convention
they made a historic commitment to the world’s children of protecting their childhood. This
convention has become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and has helped
transform children’s lives around the world. All members states, except U.S., and south sudan
have ratified the UNCRC. But still not every child gets to enjoy a full childhood and still too
many childhoods are cut short. It is up to our generation to demand the leaders from
government, business, and communities and take action for child rights now once and for all.

A WORLD WITHOUT UNCRC

1. Law makers and governments would never change the way they treat the
children.
Prior to passing of the treaty, it was acceptable to view children as passive objects that were
products of their parents. Through the UNCRC, children are viewed as distinct individuals
who live needs and opinions separate from that of their parents.

There will be no power for the international bodies to intervene to support child’s rights.

The passage of the UNCRC gives aid agencies and relief operations more power, particularly
with regards to children’s health, safety and wellbeing. Since 1998, for example UNICEF has
been able to rescue more than 100,000 child soldiers.

2. UNCRC empowers international organizations into holding nations accountable.

When nations are pressured or face sanctions for human rights violation, they are more likely
to make efforts to fix things. Furthermore, it enables international bodies to create regulatory
framework to ensure children’s rights are protected outside of their country, such as with
refugees, immigrants, trafficking victims and asylum-seekers.

3. Children are being acknowledged that they the rights of citizens.

Articles mandate that the children have a right to documentation and their culture, even if it is
not the culture supported by their country. This is especially important for children of
marginalized ethnic groups and populations such as the Rohngya in Myanmar and he Yadizis
living under ISIS territory

4. It addresses children with disabilities.

Children with disabilities worldwide are often excluded and marginalized, particularly when
it comes to education. By saying that all children are entitled to the same rights, it empowers
children whose voices are frequently silenced.

5. The quality of life of children around the world would be worse.

By bringing the children into the spotlight, it raises awareness for children’s rights. Working
to improve the lives of children in developing countries is an indication that progress is being
made. In the fight against global poverty, people are often fighting for the children. The
UNCRC helped make impoverished children a more visible population for policy makers and
governments to consider.
 6. There is no other convention which mandates about the children’s right to go to
school.

As education becomes increasingly powerful as a means of empowerment especially in

developing countries, it is critical that everyone has the opportunity to go to school.
Education leads to knowledge, employment and potential income, which benefits all families.
By not excluding certain children from education, communities develop more power to fight
global poverty at home and worldwide.

7. Prohibits forced labour.

Many articles mandate that children working are only acceptable if they are not exposed to
hazardous conditions or violence if the work does not interfere with their education. Most
importantly, the children working must choose to their parents cannot force them.

8. It empowers children directly.

Articles in UNCRC state that children have the right to be heard. The old tenet that “children
should be seen, not heard” is seen as an infringement against a child’s rights. A child
knowing that they can stand up for themselves is a powerful thing.

9. This convention also provides the World’s children’s prize.

Established in 2000, the world’s children’s prize holds annual election in which children vote
on children’s right to hero. More than 36.5 million children have cast their vote in the WCP;
more than 60,000 schools in 113 different countries take part in the opportunity to educate
children about their rights and let them choose a hero for their cause. Past winners of the
WCP include Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai

UNICEF’S ROLE

UNICEF is the UN organization mandated to protect the rights of every child, everywhere,
especially the most disadvantaged, and is the only organization specifically named in the
convention of the rights of the child as a source of expert assistance and advice. It plays a
vital role in promoting and supporting the convention on the rights of the child. Child rights
are at the heart of everything UNICEF does. UNICEF is guided by the convention on the
rights of the child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and
international standards of behaviour towards children.

By promoting the ratification and supporting the implementation of the convention and its
optional protocols, UNICEF helps strengthen laws and policies and improves understanding
of the convention at all levels of society, including:

● Supporting governments to implement the Convention through laws and policies,

including providing institutional and professional capacity development.
● Participating in different stages of the monitoring process. For example, UNICEF
country offices assist governments in organizing major consultations prior to drafting
their reports.
● Supporting the Committee on the Rights of the child. For example, by participating in
the Committee's review of submitted reports.
● Working with governments to identify implementation strategies in response to the
Committee's recommendations.
● Helping to ensure that voices that too often go unheard are reflected in the
information presented to the Committee. For example, by facilitating wide-reaching
consultations at all levels of society, submitting written reports on the situation of
women and children, and encouraging non-governmental organizations to submit their
own reports to the Committee as a supplement to government reports.

UNCRC AND ILO

Public discourse on child labour uses the phrase to refer to child time in activities that are
somehow harmful to the child. For example, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child (UN-CRC) emphasizes the importance of protecting children from: " 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"

A majority of countries have adopted legislation to prohibit or place severe restrictions on the
employment and work of children, much of it stimulated and guided by standards adopted by
the ILO. In spite of these efforts, child labour continues to exist on a massive scale
,sometimes in appalling conditions, particularly in the developing world. If progress has been
slow or apparently non-existent ,this is because child labour is an immensely complex issue.
It cannot be made to disappear simply by the stroke of a pen.

Nevertheless, the basis of determined and concerted action must be legislation, which sets the
total elimination of child labour as the ultimate goal of policy and puts measures into place
for this purpose and which explicitly identifies and prohibits the worst forms of child labour
to be eliminated as a matter of priority.

INDIA RATIFIES ILO PACTS ON CHILD LABOUR

In a historic move, India on Tuesday ratified two core Conventions of International Labour
Organisation (ILO) on child labour – a global commitment to end the worst form of child
labour and to ensure minimum basic education to children.

Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya handed over the Instruments of Ratification to ILO at
Geneva as a part of the ceremony.

“It is a historic moment for India as we are going to take another giant step to affirm our
commitment for a child labour free India by ratifying the two Core Conventions of
International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 138 regarding admission of age to
employment and Convention 182 regarding worst forms of Child Labour,” Mr. Dattatreya
said at the side lines of the International Labour Conference, 2017 in Geneva.

The Central government had enacted a new law — Child labour (Prohibition and Prevention)
amendment Act, 2016 – banning employment of child labour below 14 years of age in all
occupations and processes. It further prohibits employment of adolescents (14-18 years of
age) in hazardous occupations. However, children were allowed to “help” families in running
their domestic enterprises only after school hours.

The new law linked the age of employment for children to the age of compulsory education
under Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009.

“From today, Convention 182 will cover more than 99% of the world’s children and the
coverage of Convention 138 will leap from approximately 60 percent to almost 80%,” ILO
Director General Guy Ryder said at the Geneva event.
 With ratification of the two core ILO conventions, India has ratified six out of eight core ILO
conventions. Four other conventions were related to abolition of forced labour, equal
remuneration and no discrimination between men and women in employment and occupation.

Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarth had told The Hindu last week that the Central
government’s move to ratify ILO Conventions on child labour will ensure compliance of the
government’s new law.

“Countries which ratify any of the ILO conventions have to go through a periodical reporting
system every four years. So the government has to prove they are making progress,” Mr
Satyarthi had said.

India ratified ILO Conventions, 138 and 182, which says that the minimum age for
employment should not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling (14 years
of age in India's case) and calls for elimination of the worst forms of child labour,
respectively.

PREDEFINED WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR

Convention 182 includes forms of child labour, which are predefined worst forms of child
labour. They are also sometimes referred to as automatic worst forms of child labour.

The predefined worst forms of child labour are:

● all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as

o the sale of a child;

o trafficking of children, meaning the recruitment of children to do work far away from
home and from the care of their families, in circumstances within which they are exploited;
o debt bondage or any other form of bonded labour or serfdom;
o forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for
use in armed conflict;
● Commercial sexual exploitation of children(CSEC), including the use, procuring or offering
of a child for
o prostitution, or
o the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
● use, procuring or offering of a child by others for illegal activities, also known as children
used by adults in the commission of crime (CUBAC), including the trafficking or production
of drugs[6]
● work by its nature that is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children[6]
● The last category of worst form of child labour is work which by its nature or the
circumstances is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children, or Worst Forms of
Hazards faced by Children at Work. Here the Convention recommended that the
circumstances should be determined in consultation with organisations of employers and
workers within a specific country. The Convention recommends that programmes of action
should attend specifically to younger children, the girl child, hidden work situation in which
girls are at special risk, and other groups of children with special vulnerabilities or
needs. Worst Forms of Child Labour Recommendation No 190 contains recommendations on
the types of hazards that should be considered to be included within a country-based
definition of worst form hazards. This could lead to many deaths.

The worst forms of child labour that should be prohibited in ILO Recommendation No. 190
are:

● "Any work that exposes children to sexual abuse (physically or psychologically).

● Any work that is done underground, under water, at dangerous heights or in confined spaces.

● Any work that is done with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools.

● Any work that involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads.

● Any work that is done in an unhealthy environment which may, for example, expose children
to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations
damaging to their health.

● Any work that is done under particularly difficult conditions such as work for long hours or
during the night or work where the child is unreasonably confined to the premises of the
employee.

IMPORTANCE OF CHILD EDUCATION

There has never been a more important time to educate and empower the next generation
with knowledge about their rights.
Children and young people are rarely in a position to stand up for their own rights - so the
need for a legal framework that embeds and protects their best interests is vital.

Whilst the government, for the time being at least, is still bound by the Human Rights Act
1998 and other domestic legislation that protects children’s interests, every opportunity needs
to be taken to strengthen children’s rights. Importantly, the United Nations Convention of the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which sets out the inalienable rights of every child, will
continue to apply to the UK after its departure from the EU.

The UK ratified the UNCRC in 1991 and it sets out 54 articles covering the civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights that allow children and young people to live with dignity,
and to achieve their full potential. The four general principles of the UNCRC cover:

Non-discrimination

The best interests of the child

The right to survival and development

The right of children to be heard, and have their views taken into account in matters that
affect them

These general principles provide a lens through which every other right in the convention
should be implemented; and it is crucial, post-Brexit, that all UK government policy and
practice which affects children takes these principles into account.

It is generally accepted that a child-rights approach to education means educating in a way

that reflects the principles set out the UNCRC - enabling children and young people to know
and enjoy their rights. The UN Committee has recently recommended that children’s rights
education be mandatory in the UK (concluding observations, Word document). Lots of
studies have shown a rights-based approach to education has positive outcomes for children
including an increase in tolerance amongst pupils, better behaviour in class, higher self-
esteem, improved well-being, and an increased understanding of democratic principles and
citizenship.
With uncertain times ahead, every effort should be made to see that children’s rights aren’t
weakened as a result of the UK’s exit from the EU. All negotiations and subsequent law and
policy should be made with proper regard for children’s rights under the UNCRC. Child
rights education is an important step in cementing the rights of children and enabling them to
become active citizens in this changing world.

Unicef works hard to promote children’s rights in schools across the world. The Rights
Respecting Schools Award embeds children’s rights in daily school life and gives children
the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, the UNCRC is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and I
would say it is very important as they provide a benchmark of rights for children and young
people. It provides an collection of rights that encompasses everyone under the age of 18 and
ensure that their voices are heard, they are protected and they are taken into account and not
forgotten!

The articles within the convention should be inherent within our society and in the world. In
developed countries, like the UK and Germany, we can safely say that really good progress
has been made to ensure that these articles are met. However, these principles aren't always
followed and in some countries they don't exist and children and young people continue to be
exploited, their voices aren't heard and decent provision isn't made for them as in some
countries they aren't seen as worthy citizens worth spending resources on. In some countries,
the UNCRC can't even be ratified because it does not have an internationally recognised
government, such as in Somalia. Further, there are hundreds of millions of children around
the world who have been forced into child labour. Many of these children are forced to work
in sweatshop, as prostitutes, etc., and are economically and sexually exploited and/ or
physically abused. This should not be acceptable in the world at this time. People need to take
a stand to ensure that young people rights are upheld and to ensure that our governments
know that we won't stand for children to be exploited and mistreated and ensure our
governments work with foreign governments in a collaboration to do something in countries
were their own domestic government won't do anything to help their own children. This
convention gives us a overview of the things which all children should have, therefore we
have a benchmark to work on to ensure that children slowly across the world start receiving
these rights. The work of charities and NGOs such as UNICEF and Save the Children are
working toward this with our help. We will keep going to ensure children are heard, just
locally but globally!