A Bit of Background on the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Everywhere in the world, children are growing up in very difficult conditions. They face poverty, war, exploitation, and other challenges. To try to improve the situation, some countries decided to give children special protection.

On November 20, 1989, the General Assembly of the United Nations (“U.N.”) adopted a convention designed specially for children: the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the “Convention”).

The Convention is important because it was the first time all the rights of children - political, health, education, etc., - were brought together in one document.

Since 1989, more than 190 countries have signed the Convention, promising to defend and promote the rights of children, and improve their living conditions.

The Convention covers all children and teenagers up to 18 years of age, or the age of majority if it is not 18. The age of majority is when a person is considered an adult under the law. People in some countries are considered adults when they turn 16 or 17.  For example, the age of majority in Nepal and Turkmenistan is 16. It is also 16 in Pakistan, but only for girls. Boys become adults at 18.

By signing on to the Convention, countries agree to respect the rights of children listed in the Convention. There are over 50 sections that describe specific rights, and four main principles that underpin all these rights. The four principles are:

• Children’s Right to Life, Survival and Development

Children are entitled to good health, and have food and drinkable water. Children also have the right to be raised by their parents. Parents must provide their children with a home, clothing, good food, an education, and even leisure time. Countries also undertake to protect children against violence, abuse, slavery, and forced marriage.

• Putting Children’s Best Interests First

Decisions about a child must respect what is best for that child. This principle applies to, for example, the decisions of governments and courts and the making of laws.

• Non-Discrimination

All children are entitled to the same protection and services, regardless of whether the child is a boy, a girl, a refugee, Aboriginal, has a disability or belongs to a minority group. Countries must ensure that children are not discriminated against on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, origins, a disability, language, political opinions or wealth.

• The Right to Take Part in Decisions

Children have the right to give their opinions and take part in decisions that affect them. Depending on age and maturity, this can mean that a court must listen to a child when making a decision about that child. Children also have freedom of expression. For example, children have the right to write a letter to be published in a newspaper or participate in a lawful public gathering.

Countries have laws on many subjects. In Canada, there are lots of laws that protect the well-being of children.

When Canada decided to agree to the Convention, all these laws were reviewed to make sure they respected the standards of the Convention.

It was found that Canada’s laws did meet these standards, so no Canadian laws had to be changed to put the Convention into practice.

But this isn’t always the case.  Sometimes a country’s laws must be changed before the Convention can be put into practice. To make these changes, a country will adopt what is called an “implementing law”. 

The international community expects that countries committing to an international convention will take concrete steps to respect it. Just adopting an implementing law is usually not enough. For example, countries that agreed to the Kyoto Protocol must take steps in the areas of sustainable development, public transportation and “green” energy to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

To put into practice the Convention on the Rights of the Child, laws on the minimum working age, free compulsory schooling, healthcare, child exploitation, and the use of children in armed conflicts must be examined. These laws must contain the same rights as in the Convention.

To make sure all this gets done, countries signing international conventions often undertake to demonstrate what they have accomplished to a specialized international body. For example, the International Labour Office monitors labour standards and makes recommendations each year to improve the situation in certain countries.

The U.N. is responsible for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It created the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee sits in Geneva and monitors children’s rights in countries that have signed the Convention. Every five years, each country submits a report to the Committee about progress on children’s rights. The Committee reviews these reports and compares them with other reports on the situation in these countries. It then invites each country to Geneva to discuss its report.  The Committee makes recommendations so that countries can make changes before the next report is submitted five years later.  

Sometimes the international community creates international courts. They are similar to the courts in Canada, except that they have judges from several countries and special procedures. For example, European Union countries that signed the European Convention on Human Rights created the European Court of Human Rights. This court handles cases about the European Convention. This court has existed in permanent form in Strasbourg since 1998.

Sometimes courts are created for specific events. One well-known example is the International Military Tribunal of Nuremburg, which in 1945-46 tried people who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II.

Most rights in the Convention are already part of Canadian law.  But this does not mean there is no room for improvement.

Under the Convention, Canada must submit a report on the situation of children in Canada to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child every five years.

After reviewing Canada’s second report, the Committee concluded that we could do a better job of protecting children’s rights, especially in the areas of:

•   Physical punishment of children
•   Health of aboriginal children
•   The age at which children are allowed to start working

With regard to physical punishment, the Criminal Code of Canada allows parents or a schoolteacher responsible for a child to use reasonable force to discipline the child, subject to some strict limits. The Committee on the Rights of the Child believes that Canada should prohibit all forms of violence, even moderate, toward children. The Convention encourages alternate, non-violent disciplinary measures, such as incentives or punishments.

The Committee was also concerned about the health of Aboriginal children. Not all Aboriginal communities have access to the same healthcare services as other Canadian communities, particularly in the North.  The Committee also noted that Aboriginal children suffer more from sudden infant death syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, suicide and substance abuse than non-Aboriginal children.

Lastly, the Committee said that it is disappointed that Canada has no minimum working age, even though child labour is strictly regulated.