Children's rights

Children's rights

Children's rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.[1] (Not to be confused with Youth rights). The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines a child as "any human being below the age of eighteen years, unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier."[2] Children's rights includes their right to association with both parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for physical protection, food, universal state-paid education, health care, and criminal laws appropriate for the age and development of the child, equal protection of the child's civil rights, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of the child's race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability, color, ethnicity, or other characteristics. Interpretations of children's rights range from allowing children the capacity for autonomous action to the enforcement of children being physically, mentally and emotionally free from abuse, though what constitutes "abuse" is a matter of debate. Other definitions include the rights to care and nurturing.[3] There are no definitions of other terms used to describe young people such as "adolescents", "teenagers", or "youth" in international law,[4] but the children's rights movement is considered distinct from the youth rights movement. The field of children's rights spans the fields of law, politics, religion, and morality.

Provision: Children have the right to an adequate standard of living, health care, education and services, and to play and recreation. These include a balanced diet, a warm bed to sleep in, and access to schooling.
Protection: Children have the right to protection from abuse, neglect, exploitation and discrimination. This includes the right to safe places for children to play; constructive child rearing behavior, and acknowledgment of the evolving capacities of children.
Participation: Children have the right to participate in communities and have programs and services for themselves. This includes children's involvement in libraries and community programs, youth voice activities, and involving children as decision-makers.[21] In a similar fashion, the Child Rights International Network (CRIN) categorizes rights into two groups:[22][23]
Economic, social and cultural rights, related to the conditions necessary to meet basic human needs such as food, shelter, education, health care, and gainful employment. Included are rights to education, adequate housing, food, water, the highest attainable standard of health, the right to work and rights at work, as well as the cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. Environmental, cultural and developmental rights, which are sometimes called "third generation rights", and including the right to live in safe and healthy environments and that groups of people have the right to cultural, political, and economic development. Amnesty International openly advocates four particular children's rights, including the end to juvenile incarceration without parole, an end to the recruitment of military use of children, ending the death penalty for people under 21, and raising awareness of human rights in the classroom.[1] Human Rights Watch, an international advocacy organization, includes child labour, juvenile justice, orphans and abandoned children, refugees, street children and corporal punishment.

A report by the Committee on Social Affairs, Health, and Sustainable Development of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe identified several areas the Committee was concerned about, including procedures such as "female genital mutilation, the circumcision of young boys for religious reasons, early childhood medical interventions in the case of intersex children and the submission to or coercion of children into piercings, tattoos or plastic surgery".[25] The Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution in 2013 that calls on its 47 member-states to take numerous actions to promote the physical integrity of children.[26]
Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child enjoins parties 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".[27] The Committee on the Rights of the Child interprets article 19 as prohibiting corporal punishment, commenting on the "obligation of all States Party to move quickly to prohibit and eliminate all corporal punishment."[28] The United Nations Human Rights Committee has also interpreted Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibiting "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" to extend to children, including corporal punishment of children.[29]
Newell (1993) argued that "...pressure for protection of children's physical integrity should be an integral part of pressure for all children's rights."[30]
The Committee on Bioethics of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) (1997), citing the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), asserts that "every child should have the opportunity to grow and develop free from preventable illness or injury."[31]