The rights of children have been recognized by international human rights standards such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through which nations of the world acknowledged that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance. These rights were further developed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 November, 1989. Virtually all the countries in the world have demonstrated their commitment to Children’s Rights by ratifying this Convention, including every state in South Asia. The Convention ensures rights for children, without discrimination with regard to their race, colour, sex, language, religion, national, ethnic or social origin, disability, birth or, other status, or that of their parent or, legal guardian.
Some of the main principles of the Convention are, as follows:
- For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being, below the age of eighteen years,
unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. (Article1)
- Every child has the inherent right to life. (Article 6).
- Capital punishment or life imprisonments shall not be imposed for crimes, committed before the age of eighteen.
(Article 37a).
- Children must not be tortured or, suffer cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or, punishment. (Article 37a).
- No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty, unlawfully or arbitrarily. In addition, the arrest, detention or
imprisonment of a child should be used only as a last resort and, for the shortest appropriate time. (Article 37 (b).
- Children, who are detained, should be separated from adult detainees. (Article 37(c)).
- States are obliged to respect and ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in
armed conflicts, which are relevant to the child. States are also obliged to ensure the protection and care of
children, affected by an armed conflict (Article 38).
- Special protection is to be given to refugee children. States shall cooperate with international agencies to this end
and, also, help to reunite children separated from their families. (Articles 22 and 10).
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