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20 years have passed since world leaders recognised the need for a special set of rights to protect children. Since then the Convention has become the most universally accepted and widely ratified human rights treaty, yet at this time of celebration, Save the Children highlights the important need to ensure children are able to challenge violations to their rights.

“Over the last 20 years the Convention has revolutionised the way children are viewed in our societies,” said Susanna Villaràn, a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, speaking from a Save the Children conference in Geneva, “In many countries around the world, governments, individuals and most importantly children, know they should be treated with respect by others, be able to go to school, be healthy and have the freedom to be who they want to be.”

“As a child, I think the Convention is a good thing for children. It enables them to express themselves and live better,” says Madia Lo, 15 year old boy from Guediawaye, in Senegal. “But many of those rights haven’t been put into practice here. This is the reason why we need to make more effort to let people know about child rights, especially the rights to education, health and protection.”

But while there has been a shift in perception of child rights, there is still no international mechanism for children to be able to complain when their rights have been violated, or, in most countries, a way that children can challenge violations of their rights in a court of law. Save the Children emphasises the need to look ahead to the remaining challenges at this important moment for children.

“Our founder, Eglantyne Jebb, developed the concept of children’s rights which formed the Convention on the Rights of the Child. For 90 years children’s rights have remained at the heart of everything we do,” said Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Secretary General International Save the Children Alliance, “We know it is children that are often more vulnerable to abuse and harm, yet we see adults are more easily able to access remedies when their rights are violated. It is time we stopped seeing the Convention as a set of aspirational goals or a moral wishlist and started to view the rights as binding legal obligations.”

Save the Children supports the development of a third optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child which will introduce a complaints mechanism, so children are able to challenge violations to their rights. Save the Children is also highlighting the need for the Convention to be more readily used as a legal instrument in courts.

Notes

Save the Children’s conference Convention on the Rights of the Child: From Moral Obligations to Legal Imperatives, examining the need for effective remedies to violations of child rights, was held 12-13 November in Geneva. For more information click here.

Save the Children is the world's largest independent organisation for children, making a difference to children's lives in over 120 countries. Find out more about Save the Children’s work to protect child rights here.