The Rights of Children

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 20, 1989. It has now been ratified by 159 countries, including every country in the Americas except for the United States. It estab- lishes for the first time in an international conven-
tion that children are citizens with certain defin- able rights, and that those rights, in the main part, consist of particular protections from their respec- tive governments. That many of the rights listed below had to be specified is an indication not only of the powerlessness of childhood, but of the daily horrors that many of the world’s children find themselves subjected to. Among the rights agreed to by the parties to the Convention are the follow- ing:
“* The inherent right to life. “* The right to a name at birth. “* The right to express his or her opinion freely, and have that opinion taken into account in any matter affecting the child. “* The right to meet with others and to join or form associations. “* The right to the highest standard of health and medical care attainable.
“* The right to enter or leave any country for purposes of maintaining the parent-child relationship. “* The right to primary and secondary education. “* The right to be protected from work that threat- ens his or her health, education or development. “* The right to be protected from sexual exploita- tion and abuse, including prostitution and involvement in pornography. “* The right to be protected from torture, cruel treatment or punishment, unlawful arrest or deprivation of liberty. (Capital punishment and imprisonment without possibility of release are prohibited for children under the age of 18.) “* The right to be protected from recruitment into the armed forces below the age of 15.
In addition to respecting these rights, govern- ments which are party to the Convention agree to certain responsibilities, among them: the provi- sion of appropriate assistance to parents in child raising; the protection of children from maltreat- ment by parents or other caretakers; and the pro- vision of alternative family care or institutional placement for children deprived of a family envi-
ronment.