2. ◘ What is a human right?
◘ Who is considered a child?
◘ What rights do you think you should have as
a child?
◘ Do children all over the world have their
rights protected?
◘ Have your rights ever been violated? How
did you feel?
◘ Who makes international laws? Who
enforces them?
◘ Have you ever heard of the CRC?
Objectives
Source: RUGMARK Foundation
3. Children’s rights are violated throughout the world
every day…
Basic Facts
◘ 1 in every 6 children around the
world are engaged in child labor.
◘ 300,000 children around the world
are actively participating in more
than 19 armed conflicts.
Source: UNICEF - http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_childlabour.html
Source: ECPAT. “Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.” March 7, 2002
http://www.ecpatusa.org/pdf/senate_testimony.pdf (April 1, 2004).
Source: Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 http://www.childsoldiersglobalreport.org/content/facts-and-figures-child-soldiers
4. ◘ An estimated 25 million children and adolescents are
currently uprooted from their homes; they make up nearly
half of the refugee population worldwide.
◘ There are approximately 150 million street children
worldwide between the ages of 3 and 18. About 40% of
these children are homeless, which is an unprecedented
number in history.
Basic Facts
Source: http://www.gvnet.com/streetchildren/00-StreetChildren.htm
5. ◘ To establish and support the international system.
◘ To provide legal rules to resolve multi-national disputes.
◘ To help maintain peace internationally.
Why Do We Have
International Laws?
6. A convention is a specific type of
international law. It is an agreement
especially among nations, usually
created within an international
organization such as the United
Nations.
Countries must..
1. Sign
2. Ratify
3. Monitor and Enforce the treaty
What is a Convention?
7. The CRC is a treaty that lays out the rights of
children and the standards to which all
governments must aspire in order to promote
these rights.
What is the Convention on the
Rights of the Child?
8. The Convention on the Rights of the Child
recognizes each one of those practices as a violation of human
rights, and obliges each government to work toward
eliminating these practices within their own nation and
throughout the world.
Basics of the CRC
9. Conti…
◘ The best interests of the child are always the primary
consideration.
◘ A child should be protected against all forms of
discrimination and punishment.
◘ A child has the right to survival and development.
◘ A child should be protected from abuse and neglect.
◘ A child has the right to education, housing, healthcare,
and all forms of mental and physical well-being.
10. ◘ Name and Nationality
◘ Freedom of Expression
◘ Freedom of Association
◘ Education
◘ Leisure, Recreation, and
Cultural Activities
What are child rights?
11. ◘ Child Labor
◘ Drug Abuse
◘ Sexual Exploitation
◘ Torture and Deprivation of Liberty
◘ Armed Conflicts
Additional Protections Under the
CRC
12. 1. Countries sign the CRC.
2. Countries ratify the CRC.
3. Countries rights widely known.
4. Committee on the Rights of the
Child.
5. Committee reviews reports
submitted by States Parties
two years after ratification, and
every 5 years thereafter.
6. States Parties make rights
widely known.
7. Committee proposes special
studies etc. to be undertaken
in the countries.
8. All countries help each other
implement the Convention.
Enforcing the CRC
13. ◘ Educate yourself about the CRC.
◘ Contact local, state, and national politicians
• Write letters asking them to ratify the CRC.
◘ Talk to your parents about the CRC.
• Educate the adults in your life!
◘ Advocate for awareness of the CRC.
• Begin a social awareness/ human
rights club.
What Can You Do?
