Child
Rights Glossary : C
CHILD LABOUR
It is a form of child exploitation. Child labour is defined by
ILO standards as any work, which by its nature or employment conditions
is detrimental to a child’s physical, mental, moral, social
or emotional development.
As of 2003, more than 250 million children, between the ages
of 5 and 14, worked as child labourers around the world. Of these,
120 million works full-time and some 50-60 million work in hazardous
circumstances, according to the International Labour Organisation.
But a focus on these visible forms of work can obscure the many
other ways in which children work. Rural working children, for
example, are mainly engaged in agricultural activities and collecting
water, fuel and fodder. In many countries, poor girls work as
domestic servants for richer families. Almost everywhere, children,
especially girls, perform unpaid work for their families. That
work is done in the home or in family enterprises does not necessarily
make it easier or more acceptable.
What counts as child labour according
to the ILO and Global March Against Child Labour?
Under 12: No commercial permitted (general help in the family
allowed)
12-13: Light work allowed for children in the developing countries
13-14: Light work allowed for children in developed countries
14-15: Regular non-hazardous work allowed for children in developing
countries
15: Regular non-hazardous work allowed for children in developed
countries
16-17: Regular, potentially hazardous work for children in developing
and developed countries under carefully controlled conditions.
Under 18: None of the worst forms of child labour permitted
- Child slavery and bonded labour
- Child prostitution and use for pornography
- Use of children in crime
- Hazardous work (except about 16 in carefully regulated conditions)
CHILD PARTICIPATION
Child participation involves encouraging and enabling children
to make their views known on the issues that affect them. Put
into practice, participation is adults listening to children –
to all their multiple and varied ways of communicating. It ensures
their freedom to express themselves and takes their views into
account when coming to decisions that affect them. Engaging children
in dialogue and exchange allows them to learn constructive ways
of influencing the world around them.
Child participation must be authentic and meaningful. It must
start with children and young people themselves, on their own
terms, within their own realities and in pursuit of their own
visions, dreams, hopes and concerns. Most of all, authentic and
meaningful child participation requires a radical shift in adult
thinking and behaviour — from an exclusionary to an inclusionary
approach to children and their capabilities.
The drive to participate is innate in every human being. Promoting
meaningful and quality participation of children and adolescents
is essential to ensuring their growth and development. Children
have proved that when they are involved, they can make a difference
in the world around them. They have ideas, experience and insights
that enrich adult understanding and make a positive contribution
to adult actions.
CHILD RIGHTS
Refers to all Human Rights affecting a child.
See Convention on The Rights of
the Child
CHILD SOLDIERS
“They pointed a gun at me, so I had to do it. The boy was
asking me, "Why are you doing this?" I said I had no
choice. After we killed him, they made us smear his blood on our
arms. They said we had to do this so we would not fear death and
so we would not try to escape . . . I still dream about the boy
from my village that I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he
is talking to me and saying I killed him for nothing, and I am
crying”
Susan, 16, abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda -
http://157.150.184.6/osrsgcaac
According to the Cape Town Annotated Principles And Best Practice
On The Prevention Of Recruitment Of Children Into The Armed Forces
And Demobilization And Social Reintegration Of Child Soldiers
In Africa, "Child soldier" in this document means any
person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular
or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including
but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers, and those accompanying
such groups, other than purely as family members. It includes
girls recruited for sexual purposes and forced marriage. It does
not, therefore, only refer to a child who is carrying or has carried
arms.
"Recruitment" encompasses compulsory, forced and voluntary
recruitment into any kind of regular or irregular armed force
or armed group.
"Demobilization" means the formal and controlled discharge
of child soldiers from the army or from an armed group.
CHILD TRAFFICKING
According to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United
Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime:
"Trafficking in personas" shall mean the recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by
means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion,
of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or
of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of
payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having
control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of
the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation,
forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery,
servitude or the removal of organs;
CHILD WORK
See Child Labour
CONVENTION
ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Prior to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, human rights
standards applicable to all members of the human family had been
expressed in legal instruments such as covenants, conventions
and declarations, as did standards relating to the specific concerns
of children. But it was only in 1989 that the standards concerning
children were brought together in a single legal instrument, approved
by the international community and spelling out in an unequivocal
manner the rights to which every child is entitled, regardless
of where born or to whom, regardless of sex, religion, or social
origin. The body of rights enumerated in the Convention are the
rights of all children everywhere.
The idea of everywhere is important. In too many countries, children's
lives are plagued by armed conflict, child labour, sexual exploitation
and other human rights violations. Elsewhere, for example, children
living in rural areas may have fewer opportunities to obtain an
education of good quality or may have less access to health services
than children living in cities. The Convention states that such
disparities – within societies – are also a violation
of human rights. In calling on governments to ensure the human
rights of all children, the Convention seeks to correct these
kinds of inequities.
Some people assume that the rights of children born in wealthy
nations – where schools, hospitals and juvenile justice
systems are in place – are never violated, that these children
have no need for the protection and care called for in the Convention.
But that is far from the truth. To varying degrees, at least some
children in all nations face homelessness, violence, poverty and
other issues that dramatically affect their lives.
A New Vision
The Convention on the Rights of the Child reflects a new vision
of the child. Children are neither the property of their parents
nor are they helpless objects of charity. They are human beings
and are the subject of their own rights. The Convention offers
a vision of the child as an individual and as a member of a family
and community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to
his or her age and stage of development. By recognizing children's
rights in this way, the Convention firmly sets the focus on the
whole child.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child:
» Endorses
the principle of non-discrimination.
The principle of non-discrimination is included in all the basic
human rights instruments and has been carefully defined by the
bodies responsible for monitoring their implementation. The
Convention on the Rights of the Child states frequently that
States need to identify the most vulnerable and disadvantaged
children within their borders and take affirmative action to
ensure that the rights of these children are realized and protected.
» Establishes
clear obligations.
Prior to or shortly after ratifying the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, States are required to bring their national legislation
into line with its provisions – except where the national
standards are already higher. In this way, child rights standards
are no longer merely an aspiration but, rather, are nationally
binding on States. Ratification also makes States publicly and
internationally accountable for their actions through the process
in which States report on the Convention's implementation. At
the centre of the monitoring process is the Committee on the
Rights of the Child, an independent, elected committee whose
members are of "high moral standing" and are experts
in the field of human rights.
A Binding National Commitment
While the Convention is addressed to governments as representatives
of the people, it actually addresses the responsibilities of all
members of society. Overall, its standards can be realized only
when respected by everyone – parents and members of the
family and the community; professionals and others working in
schools, in other public and private institutions, in services
for children, in the courts and at all levels of government administration
– and when each of these individuals carries out his or
her unique role and function with respect to these standards.
Guiding Principles
The Convention on the Rights of the Child incorporates the full
range of human rights – civil and political rights as well
as economic, social and cultural rights – of all children.
The underlying values – or 'guiding principles' –
of the Convention guide the way each right is fulfilled and respected
and serve as a constant reference for the implementation and monitoring
of children's rights. The Convention's four guiding principles
are as follows:
- Non-discrimination (article 2)
- Best interests of the child (article 3)
- Survival and development (article 6)
- Participation (article 12)
The Text of the Convention
The Convention on the Rights of the Child outlines in 41 articles
the human rights to be respected and protected for every child
under the age of 18 years and requires that these rights are implemented
in the light of the Convention's guiding principles.
Articles 42-45 cover the obligation of States Parties to disseminate
the Convention's principles and provisions to adults and children;
the implementation of the Convention and monitoring of progress
towards the realization of child rights through States Parties'
obligations; and the reporting responsibilities of States Parties.
The final clauses (articles 46-54) cover the processes of accession
and ratification by States Parties; the Convention's entry into
force; and the depositary function of the Secretary-General of
the United Nations.
In May 2000 two Optional Protocols to the Convention were adopted
by the General Assembly.
Adoption of the Convention
The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on
the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989 and it entered into
force – or became legally binding on States Parties –
in September 1990. That same month, the world leaders at the World
Summit for Children, held at the United Nations in New York, made
a 'solemn commitment' to accord child rights a high priority.
The World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993,
set the end of 1995 as a target for the universal ratification
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. By the last day
of that year, 185 States had ratified, making it the most widely
and rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history. As of mid-2000,
only two States – the United States and Somalia - had not
yet ratified
(ILO) CONVENTIONS 182 AND 138
After its unanimous adoption by 174 nations in June 1999, the new
Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (ILO Convention 182)
had by mid-2000 achieved the fastest pace of ratification in ILO
history. By late September thirty-seven countries had ratified the
convention, which entered into force on November 19, 2000. The new
convention represented a global consensus to end the most abhorrent
forms of child labour, and required states to take immediate measures
to abolish such practices as child slavery, trafficking, debt bondage,
child prostitution and pornography, and forced labour, including
the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
A growing international commitment to address child labour was
also seen through new and innovative programs for at-risk children
and their families. In Latin America, programs in Brazil and Mexico
provided monthly stipends for low-income families who kept children
in school. The programs, which sometimes also provided after-school
activities and income generating projects for families, served
over 2.5 million children, and were designed to provide incentives
for education and offset the poverty that most often drives poor
children into the workplace. Similar initiatives were planned
for Ecuador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
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