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UNICEF’s Presence in the World
UNICEF is the world’s leading advocate for children, with strong presence in 190
countries. The heart of UNICEF’s work is in the field. Each country office carries out
UNICEF’s mission through a unique programme of cooperation developed with the
host government. The overall management and administration of UNICEF takes
place at the New York headquarter, where global policy on children is shaped. In
addition, UNICEF operates the Innocent Research Centre in Florence, Specialized
office such as the Supply Division in Copenhagen, and two Public-Sector Alliances
and Resource Mobilization Offices (PARMO) in Brussels and Tokyo.
Furthermore, UNICEF have 36 National Committees, that promote children’s
rights, raise funds, sell UNICEF greeting cards and products, create key
partnerships, and provide other support.

Rights of a child are human rights. These are rights which
apply to everyone, irrespective of age, gender, nationality or
other characteristics. Therefore a child has mostly the same
rights that adults have. When we speak about rights of a
child we mean the child’s human rights.

Children of different age and gender have various interests
and needs. But despite the differences, they have equal rights.
All of them have the right to equal treatment. All children have
equal rights.

In addition to rights, children also have responsibilities, like adult
members of the society. A child’s rights end where the rights of
another child or an adult begin. This means that rights have limits
and a child must consider the rights of other children and adults
when exercising his/her rights. Rights and responsibilities go hand
in hand.

A child has the right to education, but at the same time his/her duty
is to attend school. A child has a right to health protection, but
he/she has an obligation take care of his/her health. A child has a
right to free speech, but by exercising one's right to free
speech, the child must respect the rights of other children and
adults, above all the right to protect one's honour and dignity.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child gives the child the right
to exercise his/her rights and bear obligations. This means that as
the child grows his/her right to decide himself/herself increases and
so does the scope of responsibility. Until a child is not able to
execute his/her rights, his/her parents or representatives will do it.
The interests of the child must always be the starting point.

http://lasteombudsman.ee/en/childrens-rights-and-responsibilities

Declaration of
the
Rights of the Child

1. All children have the right to what follows, no matter what their
race, color sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, or
where they were born or who they were born to.

2. You have the special right to grow up and to develop physically
and spiritually in a healthy and normal way, free and with dignity.

3. You have a right to a name and to be a member of a country.

4. You have a right to special care and protection and to good
food, housing and medical services.

5. You have the right to special care if handicapped in any way

6. have the right to LOVE and UNDERSTANDING, preferably from
parents and family, but from the government where this cannot
help.

7.You have the right to go to school for free, and to have an equal
chance to develop yourself and to learn to be responsible and
useful.

8. You have the right always to be among the first to get help

9. You have the right to be protected against cruel acts or
exploitation.

10. You should be taught peace, understanding, tolerance and
friendship among all people.

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/plainchild.asp

Definition of the CHILD

Etymologically, the term “child” comes from the Latin infans which means ” the one who
does not speak “. For the Roman, this term designates the child from its birth, up to the
age of 7 years.
This notion evolved a lot through centuries and cultures to finally designate human being
from birth until adulthood. But this conception of the child was wide and the age of the
majority varied from a culture to another.

The 1st legally binding text that protects the rights of children

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is part of the legally binding
international instruments for the guarantee and the protection of Human Rights.
Adopted in 1989, the Convention’s objective is to protect the rights of all children
in the world. The Convention is the first legally binding international instrument of
Children’s Rights protection. That means that it establishes an obligatory force to the
body of all the rights it stipulates.
That implies that the States that ratified the Convention are obligated to respect and to
ensure that all rights it establishes in the name of children are respected.

The most comprehensive text for the protection of children’s rights

This Convention represents the most comprehensive international text that
exists in terms of children’s rights protection. Even though other international
instruments, such as the International Pacts, the ILO Conventions, and the
international adoption Convention guarantee children’s rights, the Convention
is the only text to address all aspects of children’s rights. The Convention
comprises 54 articles that establish the body of all children’s civil and political
rights, as well as their economic, social and cultural rights.
It also advocates the protection and promotion of the rights of special needs
children, of minority children and of refugee children.
This Convention establishes 4 principles that must govern the implementation
of all the rights it advocates:
• Non-discrimination
• Best interest of the child
• Right to life, survival and development
• Respect for the views of the child

In the Antiquity, nobody thought to give special protection to children.
In the Middle-Age, children were considered as “small adults”. In the middle of the
19th century, the idea appears in France to give children special protection, enabling
the progressive development of “minors’ rights”. Since 1841, laws start to protect
children in their workplace. Since 1881, French laws include the right for the children
to be educated. At the beginning of the 20th century, children’s protection starts to be
put in place, including protection in the medical, social and judicial fields. This kind of
protection starts first in France and spreads across Europe afterwards.
Since 1919, the international community, following the creation of The League of
Nations (later to become the UN), starts to give some kind of importance to that
concept and elaborates a Committee for child protection.

The League of Nations adopts the Declaration of the Rights of the Childon

September 16, 1924, which is the first international treaty
concerning children’s rights. In five chapters it gives specific rights to the
children and responsibilities to the adults.
The Geneva Declaration is based on the work of the Polish physician Janusz
Korczak.
World War II and its casualties leave thousands of children in a dire situation.
Consequently, the UN Fund for Urgency for the Children is created in
1947, which became UNICEF and was granted the status of a permanent
international organization in 1953. From its inception, UNICEF focuses
particularly on helping young victims of WW2, taking care mainly of European
children. But in 1953 its mandate is enlarged to a truly international scope and
its actions expanded to developing countries. UNICEF then puts in place
several programs for helping children in their education, health, and their
access to water and food.

Since December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights recognizes that “motherhood and childhood
are entitled to special care and assistance.”
In 1959 the General Assembly of the UN adopts
the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which describes in
10 principles the children’s rights. Whereas this text has not
been signed by all the countries and its principles have only
an indicative value, it paves the way to a Universal
Declaration of Children Rights.
After the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the UN wanted to introduce a Charter of Human
Rights which would be enforceable and would oblige the
states to respect it. Thus, a Commission on Human Rights
was set up to write this text.

In the midst of the Cold War and after hard negotiations, two texts
complementary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were adopted by
the General Assembly of the UN in New York:
The International Charter for Economical, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes
the right to the protection against economical exploitation, the right to be
educated and the right to healthcare
The Charter related to Civil Rights establishes the right to have a name and a
nationality.
The year 1979 is declared International Year of the Child by the UN. That year
saw a real change of spirit, as Poland makes the proposal to create a working
group within the Human Rights Commission, which is in charge of writing an
international charter.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is adopted unanimously by the
UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989. Its 54 articles describe the
economic, social and cultural rights of the children.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the text in
relation to human rights which has been the most rapidly
adopted. This text becomes an international treaty and
enters in force on September 2, 1990, after being ratified by
20 states.
The Organization for African Unity adopts the African
Charter for the Rights and Welfare of the Child on July
11, 1990.
The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention is adopted on
June 17, 1999.
In May 2000, the optional protocol to the International
Charter of the Child Rights regarding the participation of
children in armed conflicts is ratified. It entered into force in
2002. This text prohibits minors taking part in armed
conflicts.

As of today, the International Charter of
the Child Rights has been signed by 190
states of 192, even though there are a
few reservations concerning certain parts
of the text. Only the US and Somalia
have signed but not ratified.

http://childrensrightsportal.org/childrens-rights-history/

Creation of the Committee

When the Convention was ratified in the 80’s, Poland proposed to
implement a supervision mechanism that would require each country
to submit some regular reports to the United Nations’ Economic and
Social Council. This proposal was not accepted, but discussions
started on the role of the Committee for the Rights of the Child.
The Convention was thus completed by three articles, which include
the creation, the composition, the functioning, and the role of the
Committee.
The elections of the Committee members began when the Convention
was ratified on November 20th, 1989. The representatives of each
member state of the Convention are called together to elect the
members of the Committee for the Rights of the Child. The Committee
was created and came into force on February 27th, 1991.

REVIEW OF STATE REPORTS

Under Article 44 of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, the Committee studies reports which must be
submitted by States. In fact, States are requested to
provide an initial report on the situation of the Rights of
the Child in their territory two years after acceding to the
Convention. They must then present the Committee
regular reports every five years on the evolution of the
situation of the Rights of the Child and efforts of
implementation of the Convention in their legislation.

UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

Right to Life
The right to life
means that
each child
must be able to
live his or her
own life.
Children have
the right not to
be killed. They
have the right
to survive and
to grow up in
proper
conditions.

The right to life is a universally recognized right for all human beings. It is a
fundamental right which governs all other existing rights. In its absence, all
other fundamental rights have no reason to exist.
For children, the right to life is the chance to be able to live and have the possibility to
grow, to develop and become adults. This right comprises two essential aspects: the
right to have one’s life protected from birth and the right to be able to survive and
develop appropriately.
http://childrensrightsportal.org/fundamental-rights/life/

Right to
Education
The right to
education
allows each
child to
receive
instruction, to
enjoy a social
life, and to
build his or her
own future.
This right is
essential for
economic, soc
ial and cultural
development.

Beyond the question of accessibility, the right to an education also
supposes that the objectives of learning will be attained. This means that
all children have the right to benefit from a quality education adapted to
their needs. Moreover, professors must be trained in techniques of
teaching which combine pedagogy and play for the purpose of arousing
children’s interest.

Right to Food
The right to
food is the
right of each
child to eat. It
is the right to
not die of
hunger and to
not suffer
from
malnutrition.
Every five
seconds, a
child dies of
hunger
somewhere
in the world.

Children must be able to benefit from
balanced nourishment in order to
develop in a healthy manner.
Nourishment and meals must be
nutritionally filling and contribute to their
physical and intellectual development.
http://childrensrightsportal.org/fundament
al-rights/food/

Right to
Health
The right to
health means
that children
must be
protected
against
illness. They
must be
allowed to
grow and
become
healthy
adults. This
contributes to
developing
an active
society.

Vaccinations are efficient because they are fairly inexpensive and they protect
children against the risk of death and handicaps caused by the most common
children’s diseases (tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, leprosy, polio, whooping
cough, measles.) In the long term, these vaccinations can even lead to the end of
these diseases in a given country.
http://childrensrightsportal.org/fundamental-rights/health/

Right to
Water
The right to
water means
children have
the right to
safe drinking
water and
proper
sanitary
conditions.
The right to
water is
essential for
good
health, surviv
al and proper
growth.

Water is essential in children’s development
processes. The development of a child in
good health requires places with water and
food.
http://childrensrightsportal.org/fundamental-
rights/water/

Right to
Identity
Each child has
the right to
have a
surname, a
first name, a
nationality, an
d to know who
his or her
relatives are.
The right to
identity also
means that
each child’s
existence and
rights must be
officially
recognized.

From birth, each individual has the right to have a name and a surname.
Parents have the duty to declare the name, the surname and date of birth of a
new born to authorities in charge.
http://childrensrightsportal.org/fundamental-rights/identity/

Right to
Freedom
The right to
liberty is the
child’s right to
express him or
herself, to
have
opinions, to
have access
to
information, a
nd to
participate in
Right to Freedom decisions
which affect
his or her life.
Children also
have the right
to religious
freedom.

Every child has the right to express freely their opinion on all the
questions which concern his/her life. So a child should not be the victim of
the pressure of an adult, who would try to force him/her in order
to influence them in their opinion or who would prevent them from
expressing themself freely
http://childrensrightsportal.org/fundamental-rights/freedom/

Right
to
Protection

The right to protection is the right to live in a
secure and protective environment which
preserves the child’s well-being. Each child has
the right to be protected from all forms of
mistreatment, discrimination, and exploitation.

These adults must have
competencies, knowledge and motivation to
provide effective protection for children. They
must identify and react against possible cases
of discrimination, neglect or mistreatment.
http://childrensrightsportal.org/fundamental-
rights/protection/

BUILDING BRIDGES

SUBMITTED BY:
DIANA JANE A. BAUTISTA
BEED-2

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