Children Everywhere Need
Our Support for Their Rights
John V. Surr and Patricia Hoffman Kostell
with Carol R. Darcy and Kate Kolchin
In 1989 the United Nations held the World Summit on Children. At that time, most of the world's heads of state signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Children's Rights Convention or CRC), which recognizes the universal rights of childhood. The CRC also gives a legal basis to initiate and implement the goals agreed upon at the summit. Since then every country in the world, except Somalia (which doesn't have a fully functioning government) and the United States, has joined the CRC. Countries that participate in the CRC are "encouraged" rather than "required" to meet most of the CRC's standards, to the extent possible with available resources.
Facts about the Children's Rights Convention
The Convention on the Rights of the Child includes 54 articles. These articles tell the participating governments that they should
recognize a child's identity, nationality, name, and family relationships (Articles 6-8);
respect the child's views and provide freedom for them to be expressed (Articles 12 & 13);
allow the child, under parental guidance, free exercise of religion and conscience (Article 14);
provide freedom of information, association, and assembly, or privacy when desired (Articles 15-17);
protect the child from all forms of violence (such as injury, exploitation, confinement, and other forms of abuse) (Article 19);
give parents help in raising their children, including child care for the children of working parents when possible (Article 18);
separate a child from his or her parents only when in the child's best interest (Articles 9-11);
help to reunite a child with his or her parents in other countries, and to protect and assist any child separated from his or her parents (Articles 20 & 25);
hold the interests of the child foremost in adoption and refugee situations (Articles 21 & 22);
provide special care and assistance to a child with disabilities (Article 23);
give the child the best available health care (Article 24);
work toward giving the child at least the standard of living needed for his or her growth (Articles 26 & 27);
provide free public primary education, and appropriate secondary education if possible, so that the child may develop his or her fullest human potential (Articles 28 & 29);
provide opportunities for the child's leisure, recreation, and culture (Articles 30 & 31);
limit child labor that threatens or damages growth and normal development (Article 32);
protect children from drugs, sexual exploitation, trafficking, other forms of exploitation or confinement, and armed conflict (Articles 33-36);
rehabilitate child victims (Article 39); and
treat those involved in juvenile delinquency fairly and with recognition of their youth (Articles 37 & 40).
Once a country ratifies the CRC the government of that country is encouraged to engage in a process of drafting and modifying laws to conform to the provisions of the convention. An initial report is submitted within two years to the special United Nations monitoring committee. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child meets regularly to review CRC-related activities throughout the world. The countries that have ratified the convention elect from their number the members of the committee. Unfortunately, the United States will not be eligible for representation on the committee until it completes ratification. Countries submit reports every five years to document actions taken, accomplishments achieved, obstacles encountered, and continuing efforts to achieve the standards detailed in the CRC.
Since the adoption of the convention, positive changes include the vaccination of more children worldwide and increased numbers of young children attending school. The United Nations is using negotiations, diplomatic pressure, threats of sanctions, and actual sanctions to reduce the exploitation of children for sex, military duties, age-inappropriate labor, and other unhealthy activities.
For more information about the Children's Rights Convention, and to see its full text, go to http://www.unicef.org/crc.htm.
An educational program in children's rights everywhere
An international initiative called CRED-PRO (Child's Rights Education for Professionals), endorsed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, has been started to develop educational programs on the rights of children for professionals working with and for children. These programs will be offered during periods of preservice preparation and continuing professional development in traditional and distance learning formats.
An international consortium of centers for higher learning and professional associations representing diverse regional and cultural perspectives will develop, manage, and offer the educational programs in cooperation with the United Nations committee. Some centers for higher learning and professional associations based in the United States will be included in the international consortium. For further information about this effort, contact Dr. Stuart Hart at the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada) at shiicrd@uvic.ca.
Advocacy for U.S. acceptance of the
Children's Rights Convention
While the United States government led many of the negotiations that contributed to the creation of the convention in 1989, and President Clinton had Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sign the convention in 1995, the U.S. Senate has not yet ratified it. Ratification is controversial in the United States. Although ratification is a goal for many U.S. organizations and individuals, including most organizations working with children, some oppose it. Some of those opposing U.S. ratification are concerned that it will result in the United Nations telling American parents how to raise their children. The CRC, however, acknowledges parents' primary authority and responsibility in raising their children (see, e.g., Articles 5, 14, 18, 22, and 24), and instructs governments to support that parental involvement.
NAEYC has a Board-adopted position in support of the CRC. Should the issue arise in the U.S. Senate, the Association will support the CRC's ratification. Over 300 national organizations are working with the White House, the State Department, and Congress to inform them of the need for the United States to ratify the CRC. To help in this effort, members of the World Organization for Early Childhood Education's U.S. National Committee (OMEP-USNC) have been addressing early childhood educators around the country, including audiences in Arizona, California, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, South Carolina, and Texas.
Parents, professors, center directors, and teachers have expressed amazement, alarm, and dismay that the United States is one of only two countries in the world that have not ratified the CRC on behalf of the world's children. Many have written to their U.S. Senators and continue to mobilize others to seek ratification of the CRC. As more people learn about the Convention on Children's Rights, interest in supporting children's rights worldwide is gathering momentum.
Plans for a full-fledged campaign to support U.S. ratification, including a national conference in 2005, are under way now. If you want to find out more about the current Campaign to Ratify the Children's Rights Convention, please contact crc-campaign@iss-usa.org or visit http://www.crc-campaign.org.
John Surr, JD, of Bethesda, Maryland, is an advocate for better public policies for young children and works on these issues at all levels of government on behalf of Maryland AEYC and other organizations. He volunteers with the Clara Barton Children's Center in Cabin John, Maryland, working and playing with three-year-olds.
Patricia Hoffman Kostell, PhD, is an educational consultant throughout the southeastern United States. She specializes in curriculum alignment and planning as well as literacy and the development of English language arts curriculum guides.
Carol R. Darcy, EdD, is OMEP-USNC vice president (2003-2005). She values her experiences working alongside educators and with children and families in Argentina, Australia, Jamaica, Japan, and throughout the United States.
Kate Kolchin, is chief OMEP NGO (non-governmental organizations) representative to the United Nations, where she is involved in advocacy for children-especially girls' education-and for UNICEF's Millennium Goals, with a focus on integrated early childhood development policies and services.
