CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly
resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989
entry into force 2 September 1990, in accordance with article 49

Preamble

The Convention on the Rights on the Child (CRC) is an international treaty of the United Nations regarding the rights of children. It is made up of 54 articles which state that all persons under 18 have a right to be protected, to develop and to actively participate in society, and that children are entitled to rights. It was adopted by the United Nations' General Assembly of November 20th of 1989.

It is the international treaty which gathers the highest number of participating countries. It has been ratified by all the countries in the world, with the exception of Somalia and the United States mainly due - in the case of the U.S. - to the ban on the death sentence on children that the Convention contains.

Its main principles are the following:

• Participation: children, as people who are entitled to rights, can and must express their opinions on the issues that concern them. Their opinions must be heard and taken into account in the countries' political, financial and educational agendas. Thus, a new sort of relationship can be created between children, teenagers, and the government's or public decision makers.
• Survival and development: the measures taken by the Participating Countries with the aim of safeguarding the life and the quality of the life of children must insure their harmonious development in the physical, spiritual, psychological, moral and social sense, while taking their abilities and talents into account.
• The child's foremost interest: whenever public or private bodies, authorities, courts or any other entity take decisions regarding children, they must enforce those that provide the greatest wellbeing.
• Non-discrimination: no child should endure any form of harm due to his/her race, religion, gender, language, caste, condition at birth, or on account of any sort of physical or mental handicap.

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