Convention on the Rights of the Child

Human rights provisions

UNICEF Image
© UNICEF/HQ99-0825/LeMoyne
Two children return home from school in Viet Nam, which is a State party to most of the core human rights treaties.

Children and young people have the same basic general human rights as adults and also specific rights that recognise their special needs. Because the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) brings together rights articulated in other international treaties there are many parallels between the Convention and other treaties.

The five other core human rights instruments are: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention); the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Race Discrimination Convention); and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Women’s Convention). Among other rights found in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and shared with one or more of these instruments are:

  • Non-discrimination (Article 2): All human rights instruments prohibit any discrimination—distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference—in the provision, protection and promotion of rights. In other words, everyone has the human rights in these treaties, irrespective of their race, sex, religion, national origin or any other trait. The Race Convention wholly prohibits discrimination based on race, national origin or ethnicity and outlines steps that governments must take to end it. The Women’s Convention likewise calls for an end to discrimination, based on sex, and outlines specific areas of life in which women must be treated equally in order to eliminate discrimination;
  • Right to life (Article 6): also found in Article 6 of the ICCPR;
  • Right to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 37): outlined for everyone in the Torture Convention and also included as Article 7 of the ICCPR;
  • Right of detained persons to be treated with dignity (Article 37): Article 10 of the ICCPR broadly states this right and the Convention on the Rights of the Child specifies that children in this situation must be treated in a way that takes their age into account;
  • Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 14): found in Article 18 of the ICCPR;
  • Right to freedom of opinion and of expression (Article 13): found in Article 19 of the ICCPR;
  • Right to adequate standard of living (Article 27): found in article 11 of the ICESCR;
  • Right to health and health services (Article 24): found in Article 12 of the ICESCR; and
  • Right to education (Article 28): found in Article 13 of the ICESCR.

Many Articles of both the ICCPR and the ICESCR call attention to the special needs of families and children.  These include Article 24 of the ICCPR (calling for the protection of children and registration at birth of their name and nationality) and Article 10 of the ICESCR (calling for specific attention, protection and assistance to children).

These examples show that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is founded on rights inherent to everyone, but that it also builds on concerns for the specific needs and vulnerabilities of children.  For the text of any of the human rights conventions, see the box at right.   


 

 

More information

Definition of key terms [PDF]

New enhanced search