UNICEF in action


		Home / Employment / Contact / Search / Français / Español

International Youth Day

What's Happening

Opinions

Invest in Adolescents

Adolescents Need to Know

Full Citizens, Full Citizen Rights

Adolescents have the right to participate in matters that affect their lives, to be involved in family and community matters, to contribute and freely express their viewpoints. Adolescents also have the right to services and policies that promote their survival and personal development, including health care, education, skills and vocational training. And adolescents have the right to protection against violence, discrimination and exploitation.

• More Information

If you are interested in more detailed information about working with and for adolescents, please see:
The Participation Rights of Adolescents: A strategic approach.

• Issues at a glance

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations in 1989, established for the first time that children from birth to age 18 have specific rights. These include the right to survival and development; protection; free expression about and participation in matters that affect them; and the enjoyment of the rights of the Convention without discrimination.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted by the United Nations in 1981, provides a legal framework for advancement of the rights of all females, including adolescent girls, to reproductive choice, protection and full development, participation and equity in all aspects of their lives.

The International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 and ICPD+5 specified adolescents' right to reproductive health education, information and care, as well as participation in programme development and implementation. Its Programme of Action calls on governments to strengthen legislation to eliminate female genital mutilation, honor killings, forced marriage, dowry-related violence and deaths, and domestic violence.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women and Beijing +5 in 2000, spells out the human rights of women, including their right to reproductive health care and choices and freedom from discrimination, coercion, and violence.

Adolescent rights are outlined in numerous international platforms, declarations, treaties and conventions, including The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994 and ICPD+5, The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women and Beijing +5 in 2000. These and other instruments spell out specific protections and rights of adolescent girls and calls on governments to work towards eliminating gender discrimination and inequities.

Adolescents as Active Participants

At front and center are the adolescent themselves, whose active participation in project activities-from assessment to project planning, implementation, and monitoring-has informed and improved the process and contributed to their personal, social, and economic development.

As defined by the CRC, ICDP, and other international instruments, participation is not a gift bestowed to young people by adults, it is a fundamental right. It also is the guiding framework of this initiative: Meaningful participation is essential to adolescent development, as it helps young people-especially adolescent girls historically denied a voice in decisions about their own lives-learn important communication, negotiation and practical skills, assume civic responsibility, acquire and improve competencies and develop aspirations for the future.

But it is not only adolescents who benefit from their participation. Young people's involvement in project planning and implementation provides a unique perspective and invaluable information and insight, improving the efficacy, relevance and sustainability of project interventions. Their participation ultimately can help break the cycles of exclusion, exploitation, poverty and violence that they and other young people in their countries experience.