UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child: 20 years later

November 20, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

The 20th anniversary of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child is commemorated today, but the UN stresses that more work must be done for the world’s children.

On November 20, 1989, United Nations General Assembly resolution 44/25 was signed, “[r]ecognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.”

This human rights treaty has the most global support of any such treaty, being ratified by 193 countries. Additionally, the U.N. has stated that the resolution has had remarkable achievements including reaching an 80 percent success rate of primary school enrollment around the world.

Elizabeth Gibbons, UNICEF’s deputy director, told the BBC: “At any time across the world, in any city, in any media, you’ll find a story about children’s rights, that’s the big change. Yes, there are many problems not resolved, but now children matter; they matter to society, they matter to the media, [and] they matter to politicians.”

However, there is broad recognition that there is more work to be done, not only in developing countries, but also in first-world countries.

Marie Staunton, in her column for The Guardian, notes that in the U.K., “the number of children with both parents out of work has gone up 18% and there is real pressure on the parents of the 2.3 million children living in poverty.”

She continued: “Over the last two decades the world has turned from being largely rural to being mostly urban with the rise of the sprawling mega cities. A new city the size of Birmingham is created every week, makeshift slums spring up overnight with no thought for the needs and rights of children. Dirty drinking water, poor sanitation, few schools and dangerous street work all put children at risk.”

While its true that rapid urbanization and uncountable social changes leave children behind in countries like the U.K. and U.S., conditions are often worse in parts of the world where unstable government and lackadaisical enforcement of human rights treaties has created fragile situations for children.

Today, the Associated Press published a very revealing look at how children around the globe perceive and are affected by lapses in basic human rights.

Reporter Jonathan M. Katz interviewed Saintia Pierre, a 15-year-old girl in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. According to the report, Saintia has been held captive by a family there since she was six years old, and she’s forced to cook, clean, and look after children. If she doesn’t do the tasks well, she is beaten.

While Saintia received food and money for schooling, she told Katz that “her dreams are ignored.”

“They make me feel like I’m not part of the family,” she told Katz. “When they do something for me, they remind me I don’t deserve it.”

Saintia is only one example among thousands. In a world full of children that hold the key to the future, nations must strive to continue aiding children, whether it’s under the Convention on the Rights of the Child or some other national goal.