Children's Rights as Human Rights
Children and young people have the same human rights as adults. These are the same rights that protect
everyone. They span the entire spectrum of civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental
rights. Children and young people also have additional rights that recognise that childhood is a special,
protected time, in which children must be allowed to grow, learn, play, develop and flourish with dignity.
Specific human rights for children are set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The Convention offers a vision of the child as an individual and as a member of a family and community.
By recognising children's rights in this way, the Convention firmly sets the focus on the whole child.
It is important to be clear that adult and children's rights are equal, there is no hierarchy of human rights.
We know that children and young people face unique barriers to realising their rights. Their future often
depends on the action taken by adults to implement their rights in practice. As children their voices can be
unheard, or more easily dismissed.
For that reason, the UNCRC recognises that children are human beings with fundamental rights that are
written into international law. It also makes clear that special action needs to be taken to ensure those
rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.
As one of the core United Nations (UN) human rights treaties, the UNCRC helps to safeguard the dignity
and the equal and inalienable rights of all children and young people. It does this by making sure that
important rights set out in other international human rights treaties are applied in a way that is relevant
and appropriate to the needs of children and young people. The UNCRC makes clear that in all actions
concerning children, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
What is the UNCRC?
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is the internationally mandated children's rights
treaty that informs our strategies and programmes. It sets out the rights that all children and young people
in the UK have and outlines what children need to give them the best chance of growing up happy,
healthy and safe. It also explains how adults and governments should work together to make sure all
children can access all their rights. The UNCRC defines the child as a person under 18 years of age.
General Principles of the UNCRC?
There are four articles in the UNCRC that are seen as special.
They are known as the "General Principles" and they help to interpret all the other articles.
• Rights should be applied without discrimination (Article 2)
• Best interests of the child to be a primary consideration (Article 3)
•Right to life, survival and development (Article 6)
• Right to express a view and have that view taken into account (Article 12)
