25th Anniversary of

Convention on the Rights

of the Child:
Is the world a better place for children?
November 2014

Today, Universal Childrens Day, is the 25th anniversary of the UN

Convention on the Rights of the Child. The date, 20 November, marks
the day on which the UN adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the
Child in 1959 and the current Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) thirty years later in 1989.
There is much to celebrate on the 25th anniversary of the CRC, from declining child mortality to rising
school enrolment, yet it is an important reminder of the hundreds of millions of children that have not
yet been reached and are still denied access to basic services.
The CRC is the most complete statement of childrens rights ever produced and is also the most widely
ratified international human rights in history. It describes what a child needs to survive, grow,
participate and fulfil their potential, and includes the right to health, the right to education and to
protection that children are entitled to, irrespective of their gender, economic status, ethnicity,
religious belief, disability or geographic location. In practice, almost all of the areas of childrens rights
overlap and interact with each other: A child who is registered at birth is more likely to have access to
health care, go to school and be protected from child marriage. While a young child with access to
safe drinking water is more likely to survive and be able to attend school at the appropriate age. The
principles articulated in the CRC are indivisible and interdependent no one right has precedence
over another and the non-realisation of one right may impact on the realisation of other rights.
Nations that ratify this Convention are
I think childrens rights are important because
bound to it under international law, with they help you develop, learn and reach your
compliance monitored by the UN potential
Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Gemma*, age 10, MSMV UK.
Governments of countries that have ratified
the Convention are required to report to,
and appear before, the UN Committee to be periodically examined on their progress with regards to
the implementation of the Convention within their borders. So far, all UN recognised countries have
ratified the Convention excluding Somalia, South Sudan and the United States.
Two optional protocols were adopted by the UN in 2000. The first, the Optional Protocol on the
Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, requires parties to ensure that children under the age of
18 are not recruited compulsorily into their armed forces. As of 2014, 155 states are party to the
protocol and another 18 states have signed it but not ratified. The second, the Optional Protocol on
the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, requires parties to prohibit the child
trafficking, child labour, child prostitution and child pornography. As of 2014, 167 states are party to
the Protocol and another ten have signed but not ratified it. A third, the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, which would allow children or
their representatives to file individual complaints for violation of the rights of children, came into force
in April 2014. This is a crucial step forward for the Convention as it provides children with the
opportunity to access justice for violations of their rights at the international level if their country is
unable or unwilling to react.
There is no doubt that during the 25 years since the CRC was adopted, the world has taken action to
better protect children and their rights and the lives of millions of children have improved. In every
country, the Convention has inspired the introduction of, and amendment to, domestic laws that exist
to protect children and policies to help them reach their full potential. Some countries have adopted

constitutions with provisions solely dedicated to protecting childrens

rights, while others, such as Tanzania with the Law of the Child Act
(2009) and Nepal with the Childrens Act (1992), have enacted
childrens codes or childrens acts. The Convention has led to the creation of new programmes or
policies at national level that deal with specific concerns, the creation of national child rights
institutions and coordinating mechanisms, changes in government attitudes towards NGOs and
societal changes in attitudes towards children.
More children than ever are surviving past their fifth birthdays, and more children are receiving
vaccinations early on in life that protect them from diseases such as polio. More children are
benefiting from improved access to education, sanitation, water and nutrition and more children and
youth are being allowed to participate in decisions that affect their lives. Yet, the fact that the world
continues to fail to respect the rights of its children is clear in the high numbers of children who still
die of preventable causes, who are prevented from attending school or attend a school that is unable
to provide them with a quality education, who are
I think childrens rights are
subjected to violence, exploitation and abuse against which
important because they help me
they are unable to protect themselves.
and other children to be the best
they
can
be.
Globally, the world has made unprecedented progress in
Michael*, age 10, MSMV UK.
alleviating poverty and improving the living conditions of
millions of families, women and children. The number of
people living in poverty has been more than halved, from 47% in 1990 to 18% in 20101. However,
more than one third of the extremely poor are under age 13, and in low-income countries, half of all
children live in extreme poverty2. In 2013, it is estimated that 47% of those living on less than US$1.25
a day are 18 or under3.
A baby born in 2014 has a dramatically improved chance of living to age five compared with one born
in 19904. The number of children under five years old who die each year has been reduced by half,
from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 20135. About 90 million children who would have died if
mortality rates had stuck at their 1990 level have, instead, lived past the age of five6. Yet, pneumonia,
diarrhoea and malaria, all preventable diseases, are still the leading causes of child deaths, killing
approximately 5,000 children under five every day7.

United Nations. (2013). The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013. Available at:
www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/report-2013/mdg-report-2013-english.pdf
2

Olinto, Pedro, et al. (2013). The State of the Poor: Where are the poor, where Is extreme poverty
harder to end, and what Is the current profile of the worlds poor? Economic Premise, no. 125,
World Bank
3
Ibid.
4
UNICEF. (2014). 25 Years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Is the world a better place for children?
Available at:
http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/CRC_at_25_Anniversary_Publication_compilation_5Nov2014.pdf
5
UNICEF. (2013). Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed. Progress report 2013. Available at:
http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/APR_Progress_Report_2013_9_Sept_2013.pdf
6
Ibid.
7
UNICEF. (2014). 25 Years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Is the world a better place for children?
Available at:
http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/CRC_at_25_Anniversary_Publication_compilation_5Nov2014.pdf

There has been considerable progress in reducing stunting since 1990.

In 2013, on average, 25 out of every 100 children under age 5 were
stunted, compared with 40 out of every 100 in 1990. Nevertheless, in
2013, an estimated 17 million children under the age of five were severely wasted, and 161 million
children were stunted8. Globally, nearly half of all under-five deaths can be attributed to undernutrition.
From 1990 to 2012, the global drinking water coverage increased by 13% from 76% in 1990 to 89% in
20129. Yet, this means that 11% of the global population currently do not have access, leaving
hundreds of millions of children relying on water sources that in unclean and unsafe. Each day, on
average, more than 1,400 children die from diarrhoeal diseases because of contaminated drinking
water, lack of sanitation and poor hygiene10.
In 1990, there were 101 million children outof-school. By 2012 this number had almost
halved to 57.8 million children out ofschool11. More than four out of ten out-ofschool children will never enter a classroom
in their childhood, and the early school
leaving rate of 25% has remained at the same level as in 200012. But in one-third of countries, less than
75% of teachers are trained, leading to a learning crisis where 250 million children are failing to learn
the basics in numeracy and literacy.
They're important because when other people
don't feel left out and feel on his own and have
friends, and survive and reach potential.
Alice*, age 10, MSMV UK.

Only 38% of children in low-income countries were registered at birth in 2013, and across the world it
is children from the poorest families who are less likely to be registered13. Birth registration is often
referred to as a childs passport to protection as, without it, they may not legally be recognised within
their country, and may be denied healthcare or education, or if they commit a crime they may be
prosecuted as an adult instead of a child. Globally, more than 700 million women alive today were
married before their eighteenth birthday. More than one in three of these child brides, or about 250
million, entered into marriage before their fifteenth birthday14. Additionally, it is estimated that 15%
of the worlds children are engaged in child labour that compromises their right to be protected from
economic exploitation and their right to learn and play.

Ibid.
World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. (2014). Progress on Drinking Water and
Sanitation: 2014 update. Available at:
http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMP_report_2014_webEng.pdf
9

10

UNCEF. (2014). State of the Worlds Children 2014.

http://www.unicef.org/sowc2014/numbers/documents/english/SOWC2014_In%20Numbers_28%20Jan.pdf
11
UNESCO. (2014). Progress in getting all children to school stalls but some countries show the way forward.
Policy Paper 14/Fact Sheet 28. Available at: http://www.uis.unesco.org/FactSheets/Documents/fs-28-out-ofschool-children-en.pdf
12
Ibid.
13
UNICEF. (2013). Every Childs Birth Rights: Inequities and trends in birth registration. Available at:
http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Birth_Registration_11_Dec_13.pdf
14
UNICEF. (2014). Ending Child Marriage: Progress and prospects. Available at:
http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf

At Childreach International, the CRC underpins all of our work. With

our partners, we work to ensure that children, their families and their
communities are aware of their rights, and the responsibilities that
different levels of governments have to ensure these rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.
As the data shows, tremendous progress has been made during the past few decades however it also
bears witness to ongoing violations of childrens rights. The widespread ratification of the Convention
is a great triumph, but we now must build on that progress to not only ensure universal ratification of
the CRC, but also to ensure universal implementation, to reach the children we have not yet reached.
Those children most affected are those living in hard-to-reach areas such as isolated rural communities
or urban slums, or in communities torn by conflict or catastrophes, and are often children with
disabilities, from marginalised communities or girls. The vision of the Convention can only be achieved
if the rights of all children, including the most disadvantaged, are realised. More therefore needs to
be done to reach these children who have been excluded from previous interventions. Governments
must invest more in the well-being of their children to ensure that their rights are fulfilled and are no
longer violated with impunity.

*names have been changed