UN Convention Drives Global Cause of Child Rights Protection

Advocates of child rights have spoken highly of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as the world celebrates the 20th anniversary of CRC's adoption and the Universal Children's Day on Friday.

About a dozen child rights activists around the world were quoted as saying in a report that the convention had driven forward the cause of child rights protection globally, especially in less developed countries.

Jointly issued by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Xinhua News Agency, the report was a special edition of the UNICEF series on "The State of the World's Children". The launch was also part of Friday's Global News Day for Children aiming at raising public awareness on children's living environments and their development.

Ishmael Beah, a Sierra Leone-born advocate who authored best-selling "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier", said: "The convention and its two Optional Protocols have become valuable tools for me in creating a strong advocacy platform to speak on the rights of children."

Once a boy soldier, 29-year-old Beah said it was through the work of organizations committed to the implementation of the convention that he was eventually freed from his involvement in the war.

"The remarkable value of the CRC may not always be fully appreciated in countries where child rights are not systematically threatened or abused," said Beah, recalling how he came to understand the need for a specific and legally binding international instrument to address child rights after living in Sierra Leone, a country "that for many years was consumed by fear, death and the violation of human rights."

As the first legally binding international agreement on child rights protection, the CRC's core principles are non-discrimination, devotion to the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development, and respect for the views of the child.

Om Prakash Gurjar, who won the International Children's Peace Prize in 2006 for devotion to child rights protection, wrote that the convention helped him to learn about child rights and spread awareness among children whose rights are still abused.

Once a child laborer, he said it is the collective responsibility for all to implement the standards that the CRC and other child rights instruments have set forth.

There is still little awareness of child rights in some countries, among common people and even in many government organizations working for child rights, he wrote. "Awareness must be raised on this issue, and countries must be made accountable for active implementation of child rights."

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2009)