This document discusses children's rights and child protection. It begins by defining a child according to international agreements and Philippine law as anyone under age 18. It then discusses reasons why children need special attention, noting their physical and economic dependence on adults. The document outlines principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child including non-discrimination, best interests of the child, and children's evolving capacity. It also summarizes rights covered by the CRC across survival, development, protection, and participation.

2. This topic does not
attempt to build
effective parents or
child rights advocate
overnight. Nor does
it attempt to make
parents guilty of CRC
violations. It tries to
open up an avenue
for parents like you
and I to be sensitive
to your children’s
needs… and of
course, their Rights!
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3.  Being child focused
 Creating a child-friendly environment
 Based on respect and integrity and full
human dignity of the child
 Being able to see things from the child’s
point of view
 Includes a certain amount of empathy and
insight as well as the ability to identify
with the situation of the child or young
person
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 U.N. DEFINITION - Child are persons
below 18 years of age or lower
depending upon the law of the country
to which the child is a national.
 PHIL. DEFINITION – Child are persons
below 18 years of age RA 6809,
 RA 7610, Child are persons below 18
years of age or over if the person is
mentally or physically handicapped.
WHO IS A CHILD?

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REASONS WHY CHILDREN NEED SPECIAL
ATTENTION AND PROTECTION:
They are naturally physically smaller
and weaker than the normal adult.
They depend on adult for their physical
nourishment

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7. Children are NOT small adults.

8. A child develops in stages. Each stage
is built upon the last. Thus, when
one meets a problem, or when a
crisis situation arises, adverse
effects can be expected in the
succeeding stages.
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 Babies begin to learn rapidly from the moment
they are born. By age two, most of the growth of
the human brain is already complete.
 During the first six months of life, breast-milk
ALONE is the best possible food and drink for a
baby. Babies should start to be breastfed as soon
as possible, within 30 minutes after birth.
Virtually every mother can breastfeed her baby.
 Immunization protects a child against several
dangerous diseases. All immunizations should be
completed in the first year of the child’s life.
 Play is also an important part of a child’s motor
development. It helps develop the skills of
language, thinking and organizing.

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 Children under the age of about four years are
naturally self-centered. Only gradually do they
learn to share with and consider others. As they
grow up, they’ll learn to treat others as they
themselves have been treated.
 As the child reaches the school age of 7 to 12 years,
s/he begins to expand his/her understanding of the
world.
 New and varying interests emerge as the child
reaches puberty. And as relationships with others
turn prominent, peer pressure becomes stronger.
 The needs of a child at each stage have to be met.
The Convention, which covers a whole range of
rights – civil, political, economic, social and
cultural, looks at the total development of the
child.

11.  United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child (UNCRC)
 Optional Protocol to the Convention on
the Rights of the Child on the Sale of
Children, Child Prostitution and
Pornography
 Optional Protocol to the Convention on
the Rights of the Child on the Involvement
of Children in Armed Conflict
 The ICCPR and ICESCR
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PD 603 - Child and Youth Welfare
Code of December 10, 1974
RA 8044 - Youth in Nation Building
Act
RA 7600 - The Roaming-in and
Breastfeeding Act of 1992
RA 6655 – Free Public Secondary
Education Act of 1988
RA 9231 – Act Providing the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labor of December 19, 2003

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 RA 8552 – Domestic Adoption Act of 1998
 RA 7610 – Special Protection of Children
Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and
Discrimination
 RA 7658 – An Act Prohibiting the Employment
of Children Below 15 years of Age in Public &
Private Undertakings
 RA 9344 – Juvenile and Justice Welfare Act of
2006
 RA 9255 – Act Allowing Illegitimate Children
to Use the Surname of their Father of
February 24, 2004

14. An international agreement
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1913 – Birth of the idea of an international
association for the protection of children.
1923 – Formulation of the Declaration of
the Rights of the Child. Composed of five
principles aimed at assuring every child
enjoys the conditions essential for full
development.
1924 – Adoption of the Declaration of the
Rights of the Child by the League of
Nations (Geneva 26 September)

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1959 Unanimous Adoption by the
UN General Assembly, on 20
November, of the Declaration of the
Rights of the Child, composed of ten
main principles.
1948 – The UN General Assembly
proclaims the UDHR. The rights and
liberties of children are implicitly
included.

17. 17
1979 – The United Nations marks the
observance of the International Year of the
Child to celebrate the 20th anniversary of
the Declaration of the Rights of the Child
1989 - Adoption by the UN General
assembly on 20 November of the UNCRC
1990 – The Convention enters into force
after ratification by 20 States

18.  Normal development of the Child, both
materially and spiritually.
 Child that is hungry must be fed… Sick… Nursed…
Delinquent … Reclaimed … Orphan and waif …
Sheltered and succored.
 First to receive relief in times of distress
 Must be put in a position to earn a livelihood and
must be protected against every form of
exploitation.
 The child must be brought up in a consciousness
that his/her talents must be devoted to the
service of his/her fellowmen.
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19.  Non Discrimination; Enjoyment of rights without
any exception
 Special protection for means to develop
physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and
socially; Best Interest as paramount
consideration
 Name and Nationality from birth
 Social Security; adequate nutrition, housing,
recreation, and medical service, special
protection to mother and child; prenatal-
postnatal care
 Special treatment, education, care if
mentally/socially handicapped
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 Love and understanding, in an atmosphere of
affection and security, in the care of parents, no
separation from mother and child of tender years,
care to children without family
 Free and compulsory education promoting his
culture, develop his abilities, individual judgment
and sense of moral and social responsibility; Best
Interest of the Child, Play and Recreation
 Prompt protection and relief in times of disaster
 Protection from neglect, cruelty and exploitation,
not subject to traffic, employment from a minimum
age, no hazardous work
 Upbringing in a spirit of peace and universal
brotherhood

21.  Preamble and Definition of the Child
 Guiding Principles (Article 2-41)
 Survival and Development to the maximum extent possible
 Non Discrimination
 Participation with respect to a child’s evolving capacities
 Best interest of the Child
 Operational Part: Individual Rights, 4 Categories of
Rights (Article 2-41)
- Survival
- Development
- Protection
- Participation
 Fourth Part (Article 42-54)
- Requirements to become State Parties, entry into force
- Creation of UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Reporting: two years, 5 years thereafter 21

22. “…What is truly best for a child cannot be
determined by a general formula. What is
best for one child will not necessarily be
best for another. The touchstone is what
is best for the individual child in his or her
particular circumstance.” (Unaccompanied Children:
Care and Protection in Wars, Natural Disasters, and Refugee Movements)
Child and Adolescent Development, Action for the Rights of Children

23. CRC, Article 12
“State parties shall assure to the child
who is capable of forming his or her own
views the right to express those views
freely in all matters affecting the child,
the view of the child being given due
weight in accordance with the age and
maturity of the child.”
Child and Adolescent Development, Action for the Rights of Children

24.  The child’s right to survival
a. Right to life
b. Right to health
c. Right to social security
d. Right to an adequate standard of living
e. Right to parental care and support
 The child’s right to development
a. Right to information
b. Right to education
c. Right to leisure, recreation, and
cultural activities
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25. Dear Teacher:
I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My
eyes saw what no man should witness. Gas
chambers built by learned engineers. Children
poisoned by educated physicians…So I am
suspicious of education. My request is: Help
your students become human.
Haim Ginott
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The child’s right to protection
a. Right to a name, nationality, and
identity
b. Right against child abuse and
maltreatment
c. Right of children in difficult
circumstances
d. Right of disabled children
e. Right to protection against
dangerous drugs

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f. Right against sexual abuse and
exploitation
g. Right against child abduction, sale,
trafficking
h. Right against all forms of
exploitation
i. Right of children in emergency
situations
j. Right of child victims to physical
and psychological recovery and
social integration.

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 The child’s right to participation
a. Right to opinion
b. Right to freedom of expression
c. Right to freedom of thought, conscience,
and religion
d. Right to freedom of association and
peaceful assembly
e. Right to privacy of home, correspondence
and from attacks to his/her honor and
reputation
f. Right to access to information, especially
those aimed at the promotion of his/her
social, spiritual and moral well-being

29. Children should be seen
AND heard.

30. Cruelty - Any act by word or deed
which debases, degrades or demeans the
intrinsic worth and dignity of a child
Physical Abuse – Includes but is not
limited to lacerations, fractured bones,
internal injuries, severe or serious bodily
harm
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Definition of Child Abuse and Maltreatment
….whether habitual or not,
regardless of intention,
regardless of “cooperation” by child…

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Psychological Abuse – Harm to child’s
psychological or intellectual functioning
exhibited by a change in behavior, emotional
response or cognition
Neglect – Failure to provide, for reasons other
than poverty, adequate clothing, shelter,
basic education or medical care so as to
endanger the physical, mental, social and
emotional growth and development of the
child

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Sexual Abuse – Includes the use of a
child to engage in sexual intercourse
or lascivious conduct, molestation or
prostitution of, or incest with, child,
regardless of consent
Lascivious Conduct – Includes touching of the
genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh of a
child, directly or through clothing. Introduction
of any object into the genitalia, anus or mouth of
a child

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Exploitation – Includes the performance or
posing of any child in obscene exhibition
and indecent shows. Selling or
distribution of child pornography materials
Simply stated, child abuse refers to
the infliction of physical or
psychological injury, cruelty to, or
neglect, sexual abuse or
exploitation of a child (IRR of RA
7610)

34. Taken from Advisory Board interviews and Philippine
government records on cases of child abuse in Manila,
1996
“ When I grow up, I would like to
have more clothes and finish
school…maybe I will still be alive by
then.”
 14-year-old physically abused boy
“I prefer being the one raped than my
mother or sister, for if my mother dies,
we would suffer more.”
 8-year-old girl raped by stepfather
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“To my parents and relatives…’burden’ was my
nickname. I was so ashamed, I could not
swallow food anymore. I would just listen
to them, inhale deeply and say nothing.”
 15-year-old girl sold into prostitution
by her family at age 10
“A lost dog is luckier than I because his
owner tries to find him, unlike my
parents who don’t.”
15-year-old girl abandoned by her
father and raped by her uncle

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CHILDREN,
EVERYWHERE,
ALL THE TIME!
THANK YOU!