The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Children as Rights-Holders

Whether children could attend school, receive care when ill or obtain intervention when abused had often been addressed separately through charity, family norms and national laws. The 1924 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the United Nations' 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child had already brought children's particular needs into international discussion. By 1989, the new task was to put these principles into a treaty that states could join and whose implementation they would have to explain.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child placed education, health, protection from exploitation and expression of views within one text. Children needed adult care but also had interests and voices that deserved respect. Article 1 generally defined a child as anyone under eighteen, while allowing for applicable laws establishing majority at an earlier age. The convention did not exclude families from children's lives; it required states to support parents in their responsibilities for raising children and to respect children's evolving capacities.

References: [1] [2]

In 1978, Poland presented a draft to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, proposing a convention based on the 1959 declaration. In 1979, the International Year of the Child, the commission established an open-ended working group. What had been envisaged as a quick completion gradually became years of article-by-article discussion. The situations that protection should cover, the respective responsibilities of families and states, and wording acceptable across different legal traditions all required negotiation.

Polish jurist Adam Łopatka served as the working group's chair and rapporteur. National delegates proposed provisions and amendments, while organizations including UNICEF and nongovernmental organizations contributed professional experience and advice. The group considered education and medical services alongside identity, thought, expression and family relationships. After a first reading in 1988 and second reading in 1989, the draft passed through the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council to the General Assembly.

References: [2]

On November 20, 1989, the General Assembly adopted the convention through Resolution 44/25, exactly thirty years after adoption of the 1959 declaration. Its 54 articles set out not only rights but also monitoring procedures and ways to join. General Assembly adoption finalized the common text; countries still had to decide on signature, ratification or accession through their own procedures, gradually establishing treaty relations.

The convention opened for signature in New York on January 26, 1990. Under Article 49, it entered into force on September 2, 1990, thirty days after deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession. States joining later had their own corresponding entry-into-force dates. Schools, hospitals and welfare institutions thus faced a commitment requiring laws, budgets and personnel for implementation, with practical changes unfolding as countries joined and implemented it.

References: [1] [3]

Article 2 required states parties to guarantee rights to children within their jurisdiction without discrimination based on the race, sex, language, religion, property or other status of children or their parents. Article 3 required children's best interests to be a primary consideration in actions concerning them; Article 6 recognized the right to life and required survival and development to be ensured to the maximum extent possible. These provisions connected educational opportunities, care arrangements and protective measures, requiring decision-makers to explain their effects on particular children.

Article 12 further provided that children capable of forming their own views could express them freely in all matters affecting them, with due weight given according to age and maturity. They should also have opportunities to be heard directly or through representatives in relevant judicial and administrative proceedings. Adults assessing interests therefore had to engage with children's own circumstances; decisions such as family separation or care arrangements could not rely solely on one-sided accounts from administrators or guardians.

References: [1]

Article 28 required the progressive realization of equal educational opportunity, including free, compulsory primary education, reduction of school dropouts and school discipline consistent with children's dignity. Article 24 included medical services, nutrition and clean drinking water within health protection; Article 19 called for prevention, identification, reporting and handling of abuse. Implementing these provisions required cooperation among education, health, justice and social-service departments, as well as ensuring that children and caregivers knew where to seek help.

Article 4 required legislative, administrative and other measures; economic, social and cultural rights also involved using available resources to the maximum extent and international cooperation where needed. Article 44 required states parties to submit an initial report within two years of the convention entering into force for them, then report every five years and make reports widely available to their own publics. The Committee on the Rights of the Child used these to examine progress and difficulties. The shared text thus created a continuing procedure for accountability, making children's everyday circumstances a matter on which states had to answer publicly.

References: [1]