The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the world’s most-ratified human rights treaty. It has been signed by 193 countries, except Somalia and the United States. Ratified by Thailand in 1992, the Convention details the fundamental rights that all nations must guarantee for their children. These include children’s rights: • to survival – to basic healthcare, peace and security; Every five years, each country must provide a progress report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. This Committee is based in Geneva and monitors each country’s efforts to guarantee the rights laid out in the Convention. After considering Thailand’s latest reports, delivered in 2012, the Committee noted many successes in setting up legislation and state structures for the protection of children and their rights. But the Committee also highlighted a number of areas of concern and recommendation, including: • protecting the rights of asylum seeking and refugee children; • ensuring full and effective implementation of national legislation; • ensuring adequate national budget and resource; • strengthening early detection and prevention mechanism and ensuring full protection of children victims of sexual exploitation and abuse including in the families and outside • ensuring access to basic services for the most vulnerable, including minority children; refugees; asylum seekers; migrant children; street children; children with disabilities, children in poverty; children affected by the violence in the far south; children in conflict with the law; and children who have been trafficked or otherwise abused; and • raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility over the age of 12 years and ensuring that detention is only last resort and for as short a time as possible; • monitoring and data collection; • ensuring equality between regions and groups in Thailand.
|
