Rights and the media
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© UNICEF |
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. The CRC was ratified by Malaysia in 1995.
a. Giving children a voice
The CRC clearly establishes that children and young people have the right to express their views:
- Article 12: The child who is capable of forming his or her own views [has] the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
- Article 13: The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to . . . impart information and ideas of all kinds . . . either orally, in writing or print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.
b. Providing children with information
The CRC establishes the right of children and young people to have access to a wide range of information material.
- Article 17: States Parties recognise the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health.
- Article 13: The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.
