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Children Are the Future [CAF] is a Brussels-based charity organisation (asbl/vzw). It was established in 2000 with the aim to promote human rights with specific attention to children lead by the 'Convention on the rights of the child' (A summary of the Convention follows on this page).
'MISSION': CAF seeks to improve the health and education of children in impoverished communities, in ways that respect the environment, through sustainable projects identified as priorities by local children, parents and community members.
'VISION': CAF envisions a world where children have the right to good food, shelter, healthcare, education and play, the right to say what they think, to be listened to and to be protected from abuse, consistent with the "Convention on the Rights of the Child".
THE 'CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD'
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights - civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights.
The Convention was created over a period of 10 years with the input of representatives from different societies, religions and cultures. It was adopted by the General Assembly of the UN in 1989 and has been ratified by more than 190 countries to date.
HUMAN RIGHTS BELONG TO EACH OF US EQUALLY
All of us are born with human rights. Human rights are not something a richer person gives to a poorer person; nor are they owned by a select few and given to others as a mere favour or gift. They belong to each and every one of us equally. Children living in developing countries have the same rights as children in wealthy countries. And human rights apply to all age groups - they do not magically begin with a child's passage into adulthood, nor do they stop when the mandate of the Convention ceases on the child's reaching the age of 18.
The Convention places equal emphasis on all of the rights for children. There is no such thing as a 'small' right and no hierarchy of human rights. All the rights enumerated in the Convention - the civil and political rights as well as the economic, social and cultural rights - are indivisible and interrelated, with a focus on the child as a whole.
CHALLENGES AHEAD
In spite of the remarkable achievements in advancing child rights, much remains to be done. Progress has been uneven, with some countries lagging considerably behind others in giving child rights its deserved prominence on national agendas.
- Globally, an estimated 12 million children under the age of five die every year, mostly of easily preventable causes.
- Some 130 million children in developing countries are not in primary school and the majority of them are girls.
- About 160 million children are severely or moderately malnourished.
- Some 1.4 billion people lack access to safe water and 2.7 billion lack adequate sanitation.
- Some States are moving toward increasingly punitive systems of juvenile justice, with children beaten and arbitrarily detained by police and forced to share prisons with adults in inhumane conditions.
- Many unwanted children languish in orphanages and other institutions, denied education and adequate health care. These children are often physically abused.
- An estimated 250 million children are engaged in some form of labour. There are few examples of systematic actions to end child exploitation that are sensitive to children's needs.
- Armed conflicts around the globe continue to shorten and ruin the lives of millions of children. Last year, about 300,000 children served as soldiers in national armies. Many of these children were killed or maimed in combat; and many children were forced to kill and maim others.
At the beginning of the 21st century, there is a growing global consciousness of the issues affecting children and a commitment to address them. New and growing problems - for example, of HIV/AIDS, which has already orphaned millions of children and daily afflicts thousands more - threaten to reverse hard-won health and other social gains in a number of countries. But the world's children have been made a promise that still stands. Millions of children's lives will be affected if that commitment is not met.
Organisations like CAF are vital to ensure better standards for children across the globe.
Non-discrimination
All rights apply to all children without exception. It is the State's obligation to protect children from any form of discrimination and to take positive action to promote their rights.
Best interests of the child
All actions concerning the child shall take full account of his or her best interests. The State shall provide the child with adequate care when parents, or others charged with that responsibility, fail to do so.
Implementation of rights
The State must to all it can to implement the rights contained in the Convention.
Parental guidance and the child's evolving capacities
The State must respect the rights and responsibilities of parents and the extended family to provide guidance for the child which is appropriate to her or his evolving capacities.
Survival and development
Every child has the inherent right to life, and the State has an obligation to ensure the child's survival and development.
Name and nationality
The child has the right to a name at birth. The child also has the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, to know his or her parents and be cared for by them.
Preservation of identity
The State has an obligation to protect, and if necessary, re-establish basic aspects of the child's identity. This includes name, nationality and family ties.
Separation from parents
The child has a right to live with his or her parents unless this is deemed to be incompatible with the child's best interests. The child also has the right to maintain contact with both parents if separated from one or both.
Family reunification
Children and their parents have the right to leave any country and to enter their own for purposes of reunion or the maintenance of the child-parent relationship.
Illicit transfer and non-return
The State has an obligation to prevent and remedy the kidnapping or retention of children abroad by a parent or third party.
The child's opinion
The child has the right to express his or her opinion freely and to have that opinion taken into account in any matter or procedure affecting the child.
Freedom of expression
The child has the right to express his or her views, obtain information, make ideas or information known, regardless of frontiers.
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
The State shall respect the child's right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, subject to appropriate parental guidance.
Freedom of association
Children have a right to meet with others, and to join or form associations.
Protection of privacy
Children have the right to protection from interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence, and from libel or slander.
Access to appropriate information
The State shall ensure the accessibility to children of information and material from a diversity of sources, and it shall encourage the mass media to disseminate information which is of social and cultural benefit to the child, and take steps to protect him or her from harmful materials.
Parental responsibilities
Parents have joint primary responsibility for raising the child, and the State shall support them in this. The State shall provide appropriate assistance to parents in child-raising.
Protection from abuse and neglect
The State shall protect the child from all forms of maltreatment by parents or others responsible for the care of the child and establish appropriate social programmes for the prevention of abuse and the treatment of victims.
Protection of a child without family
The State is obliged to provide special protection for a child deprived of the family environment and to ensure that appropriate alternative family care or institutional placement is available in such cases. Efforts to meet this obligation shall pay due regard to the child's cultural background.
Adoption
In countries where adoption is recognized and/or allowed, it shall only be carried out in the best interests of the child, and then only with the authorization of competent authorities, and safeguards for the child.
Refugee children
Special protection shall be granted to a refugee child or to a child seeking refugee status. It is the State's obligation to co-operate with competent organizations which provide such protection and assistance.
Disabled children
A disabled child has the right to special care, education and training to help him or her enjoy a full and decent life in dignity and achieve the greatest degree of self-reliance and social integration possible.
Health and health services
The child has a right to the highest standard of health and medical care attainable. States shall place special emphasis on the provision of primary and preventive health care, public health education and the reduction of infant mortality. They shall encourage international co-operation in this regard and strive to see that no child is deprived of access to effective health services.
Periodic review of placement
A child who is placed by the State for reasons of care, protection or treatment is entitled to have that placement evaluated regularly.
Social security
The child has the right to benefit from social security including social insurance.
Standard of living
Every child has the right to a standard of living adequate for his or her physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. Parents have the primary responsibility to ensure that the child has an adequate standard of living. The State's duty is to ensure that this responsibility can be fulfilled, and is. State responsibility can include material assistance to parents and their children.
Education
The child has a right to education, and the State's duty is to ensure that primary education is free and compulsory, to encourage different forms of secondary education accessible to every child and to make higher education available to all on the basis of capacity. School discipline shall be consistent with the child's rights and dignity. The State shall engage in international co-operation to implement this right.
Aims of education
Education shall aim at developing the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to the fullest extent. Education shall prepare the child for an active adult life in a free society and foster respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, and for the cultural background and values of others.
Children of minorities or indigenous populations
Children of minority communities and indigenous populations have the right to enjoy their own culture and to practise their own religion and language.
Leisure, recreation and cultural activities
The child has the right to leisure, play and participation in cultural and artistic activities.
Child labour
The child has the right to be protected from work that threatens his or her health, education or development. The State shall set minimum ages for employment and regulate working conditions.
Drug abuse
Children have the right to protection from the use of narcotic and psychotropic drugs, and from being involved in their production or distribution.
Sexual exploitation
The State shall protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse, including prostitution and involvement in pornography.
Sale, trafficking and abduction
It is the State's obligation to make every effort to prevent the sale, trafficking and abduction of children.
Other forms of exploitation
The child has the right to protection from all forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child's welfare not covered in articles 32, 33, 34 and 35.
Torture and deprivation of liberty
No child shall be subjected to torture, cruel treatment or punishment, unlawful arrest or deprivation of liberty. Both capital punishment and life imprisonment without the possibility of release are prohibited for offences committed by persons below 18 years. Any child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child's best interests not to do so. A child who is detained shall have legal and other assistance as well as contact with the family.
Armed conflicts
States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that children under 15 years of age have no direct part in hostilities. No child below 15 shall be recruited into the armed forces. States shall also ensure the protection and care of children who are affected by armed conflict as described in relevant international law.
Rehabilitative care
The State has an obligation to ensure that child victims of armed conflicts, torture, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation receive appropriate treatment for their recovery and social reintegration.
Administration of juvenile justice
A child in conflict with the law has the right to treatment which promotes the child's sense of dignity and worth, takes the child's age into account and aims at his or her reintegration into society. The child is entitled to basic guarantees as well as legal or other assistance for his or her defence. Judicial proceedings and institutional placements shall be avoided wherever possible.
Respect for higher standards
Wherever standards set in applicable national and international law relevant to the rights of the child that are higher than those in this Convention, the higher standard shall always apply.
Implementation and entry into force
The provisions of articles 42-54 notably foresee:
- the State's obligation to make the rights contained in this Convention widely known to both adults and children.
- the setting up of a Committee on the Rights of the Child composed of ten experts, which will consider reports that States Parties to the Convention are to submit two years after ratification and every five years thereafter. The Convention enters into force - and the Committee would therefore be set up - once 20 countries have ratified it.
- States Parties are to make their reports widely available to the general public.
- The Committee may propose that special studies be undertaken on specific issues relating to the rights of the child, and may make its evaluations known to each State Party concerned as well as to the UN General Assembly.
- In order to "foster the effective implementation of the Convention and to encourage international co-operation", the specialized agencies of the UN - such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) - and UNICEF would be able to attend the meetings of the Committee. Together with any other body recognized as 'competent', including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in consultative status with the UN and UN organs such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), they can submit pertinent information to the Committee and be asked to advise on the optimal implementation of the Convention.
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