This page is background information, last updated in May 2002 and still available for reference. For the latest on the Special Session on Children, please go to the Special Session index.

Press kit

Issues & Information
Child Protection

The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been an epoch-making force for child rights. The
Convention, which came into force in 1990, explicitly affirmed the right of children to a life free from abuse, neglect and exploitation. Two Optional Protocols to the Convention, relating to children in armed conflict and to child prostitution, child pornography and the trafficking and sale of children, have reinforced the global commitment to child protection.

Yet abuse and exploitation remain enormous problems. Conflict, displacement and poverty have swollen the ranks of children needing protection. Between 50 million and 60 million children are engaged in intolerable forms of labour. Every year, at least 1 million children are trapped in sexual exploitation or trafficking. An estimated 300,000 children under the age of 18 are involved in armed 30 conflicts worldwide. More than 10,000 children are killed or maimed by landmines every year. Unknown numbers are exposed daily in their homes, schools and communities to abuse, neglect and
exploitation as families try to cope with competing demands, economic hardship and HIV/AIDS.

Protection is vital for children’s survival and development. Those whose self-esteem and sense of trust and safety are undermined at an early age remain at risk, both physically and emotionally, throughout their lives. Children who have engaged in hazardous or exploitative labour, or have suffered from trafficking or abuse, may, as adults, be unable to progress or to participate productively in society. Such children often suffer from a loss of dignity and self-esteem, mistrustfulness and poor emotional and physical health. Their children may be trapped in a similar vicious cycle of deprivation.Many children do not survive abuse and exploitation.

Poverty, the lack of options and weak state mechanisms to protect children fuel the abuse and exploitation of children. The underlying causes are most often poverty and a lack of alternatives for the child. The likelihood of abuse rises sharply where children are hungry and families poor, where school is unavailable or irrelevant to their future livelihood and where children are considered to be chattel. The breakdown of traditional family systems and local economies, and large-scale migration and urbanization, are responsible for putting many children at risk. In areas involved in armed conflict, the hunger for regular meals and clothing drives children to sign up as soldiers – while weapons manufacturers and combatants who forcibly recruit children are to blame for endangering them. Where HIV/AIDS has robbed many children of parental protection, they are at great risk of abuse and neglect.

Progress on meeting the goals of the World Summit for children

The 1990 World Summit for Children addressed child protection as one of its goals, calling for the “improved protection of children in especially difficult circumstances.” This goal was ill-defined at the time and measurable targets were not set, but debate and action since 1990 have defined appropriate strategies for protecting children and raised the political stakes for action.

Global, regional and national frameworks for action now exist. These include the unanimous adoption of ILO Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No. 182) and the adoption of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Further guidelines have been adopted on the protection of refugee children and children
in prison.

At the national level, many new constitutions have included provisions explicitly guaranteeing children’s rights, while existing constitutions have been amended to incorporate such rights. Countries have undertaken reforms to prohibit child prostitution, child pornography and child trafficking; to raise to 18 the minimum age for recruitment into military forces; to prohibit the worst forms of child labour; and to set minimum ages for employment and criminal responsibility. Several areas of national law reform have involved international cooperation, such as extraterritorial legislation on sexual exploitation and bilateral and regional agreements to combat the sale of children. Considerable success in reuniting refugee children with their families is on record; refugee children are among those most at risk of illegal recruitment into armed forces. To improve the protection of children with mental and physical disabilities, several countries have strengthened rehabilitation programmes, while others have focused on providing families with training and support, thus reducing the rates of abandonment and institutionalization.

Unfinished agenda: The unconscionable scale of abuse, neglect and exploitation

Stronger data are the starting point for uncovering long-concealed abuses. Data on the abuse and exploitation of children are scanty because of the secretive or illegal nature of these activities. But better data are key to generating awareness of the debilitating physical and psychological consequences of exploitation and abuse and to preventing such abuse.

Parents, families and other primary caregivers are the vanguard of protection; they must be supported to provide for and protect their children. Providing access to basic social services and a quality, relevant and affordable education – especially to girls – and educating primary caregivers on their pivotal role in protecting children will make a major difference to the poorest and most exploited children.

Enforcement of rights is critical. Governments must enact and enforce laws to end the exploitation of children. These include minimum working age regulations, the prohibition of intolerable forms of labour, protection for socially disadvantaged groups, minimum age requirements for military recruitment and criminal responsibility and comprehensive statutes on prostitution and trafficking in children. Adequate resources must be provided to vigorously enforce these laws and to deliver the basic social services key to ameliorating the conditions that fuel the abuse, neglect and exploitation of children.

Children’s ideas and experiences are critical to developing more successful public policy. Children must be encouraged to express their views and adults must be coached to take children’s views seriously. Children need to grow up in an environment where they are consulted, involved and listened to. When they play truant from school, run away, act violently or are lured into prostitution or armed conflict, they are usually victims of abuse or are in need of special protection. Children can be protected only when adults listen to them.