Children Rights
Definition
• Children's rights are the
human rights of children with
particular attention to the rights of
special protection and care afforded
to minors
Who is a child?
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) of 1989 defines a child as any human
person who has not reached the age of
eighteen years
• The League of Nations adopted the
Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child
(1924), which enunciated the child's right to
receive the requirements for normal
development, the right of the hungry child to
be fed, the right of the sick child to receive
health care, the right of the backward child
to be reclaimed, the right of orphans to
shelter, and the right to protection from
exploitation
• The United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
in Article 25(2) recognized the need of
motherhood and childhood to "special
protection and assistance" and the right of all
children to "social protection."
• The United Nations General Assembly
adopted the United Nations
Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959),
which enunciated ten principles for the
protection of children's rights, including the
universality of rights, the right to special
protection, and the right to protection from
discrimination, among other rights
• Children have two types of human rights
under international human rights law. They
have the same fundamental general human
rights as adults, although some human rights,
such as the right to marry, are dormant until
they are of age, Secondly, they have special
human rights that are necessary to protect
them during their minority
• General rights operative in childhood include
the right to security of the person, to
freedom from inhuman, cruel, or degrading
treatment, and the right to special protection
during childhood
• Particular human rights of children include,
among other rights, the right to life, the right
to a name, the right to express his views in
matters concerning the child, the right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion,
the right to health care, the right to
protection from economic and
sexual exploitation, and the right to
education
• Children's rights are defined in numerous ways,
including a wide spectrum of civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights. Rights tend to
be of two general types: those advocating for
children as autonomous persons under the law
and those placing a claim on society for protection
from harms perpetrated on children because of
their dependency. These have been labeled as the
right of empowerment and as the right to
protection
• United Nations educational guides for
children classify the rights outlined in the
Convention on the Rights of the Child as the
"3 Ps": Provision, Protection, and
Participation.[20] They may be elaborated as
follows:
Sudanese Children
• 24% of children aged 4-6 years old are
enrolled in pre-school institutes such is kinder
gardens and Quran’s schools (Khalawies)
• Only 69% of children aged 6 are enrolled in
foundation schools, however if we take the
age range 6-13 that decrease to 66% and
those in enrolled in education between ages
14 and 16 are 26%
Provision
1. Provision: Children have the right to an
adequate standard of living, health care,
education and services, and to play and
recreation. These include a balanced diet, a
warm bed to sleep in, and access to
schooling.
Protection
2. Protection: Children have the right to
protection from abuse, neglect, exploitation
and discrimination. This includes the right to
safe places for children to play; constructive
child rearing behavior, and acknowledgment
of the evolving capacities of children.
Participation
3. Participation: Children have the right to
participate in communities and have
programs and services for themselves. This
includes children's involvement in libraries
and community programs, youth voice
activities, and involving children as decision-
makers
• , the Child Rights Information Network, or CRIN
for short, categorizes rights into two groups:
[22][23]
a. Economic, social and cultural rights, related to
the conditions necessary to meet basic human
needs such as food, shelter, education, health
care, and gainful employment. Included are
rights to education, adequate housing, food,
water, the highest attainable standard of
health, the right to work and rights at work, as
well as the cultural rights of minorities and
indigenous peoples.
b. Environmental, cultural and developmental
rights, which are sometimes called "
third generation rights," and including the
right to live in safe and healthy
environments and that groups of people
have the right to cultural, political, and
economic development.
• Amnesty International openly advocates four
particular children's rights, including the end
to juvenile incarceration without parole, an
end to the recruitment of
military use of children, ending the
death penalty for people under 21, and
raising awareness of
human rights in the classroom
• Human Rights Watch, an international
advocacy organization, includes child labor,
juvenile justice, orphans and abandoned
children, refugees, street children and
corporal punishment.
Generally Academics speak about:
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of thought
• Freedom from fear
• Freedom of choice and the
• right to make decisions
• Ownership over one's body
Physical integrity
• Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child enjoins parties to "take all
appropriate legislative, administrative, social
and educational measures to protect the
child from all forms of physical or mental
violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent
treatment, maltreatment or exploitation
Examples of physical abuse
1. female genital mutilation,
2. the circumcision of young boys for religious
reasons,
3. early childhood medical interventions in the
case of intersexual children and
4. the submission to or coercion of children
into piercings, tattoos or plastic surgery
• Other issues affecting children's rights
include:
• the military use of children,
• sale of children,
• child prostitution and
• child pornography.
