The Effectiveness of The Convention on The Children's Rights

Introduction

Globally, hundreds of millions of young people are living in frail and conflict-affected places where the rights of children are largely denied and they are deprived of quality living by mistreatment, exploitation, and violence. Fortunately, the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by many nations has made significant improvements in safeguarding children and helping them attain their rights as equal human beings. Child mortality had decreased, health care improved, access to proper education increased, and child poverty addressed. The special case of Australia in committing to the Convention’s principle on the best interests of the child (BIC) shows a great example of CRC’s effectiveness in ensuring the rights of children. So to discuss the topic of children's rights, this essay analyzes the effectiveness of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in promoting children’s rights.

The Vulnerability of Children

The UN’s child rights assert that children, those who are under 18 years old, are entitled to special protection and assistance because they are considered vulnerable. While there are many contentions about the vulnerability of a child, most researchers and scholars agree that right from the start children are highly dependent on others to meet their basic needs (Bagattini, 2019). This has been widely considered as the most salient source of the vulnerability of a child. Moreover, other authors acknowledge children’s vulnerabilities on the ground that they are less capable to avoid being harmed. Many of the problems that vulnerable children encounter are a result of exploitation, violence, and poverty. Fortunately, if surrounded by protective families and communities, free from exploitative practices and violence, and provided the opportunities to thrive, even the most vulnerable children can prosper and reach their highest potential.

Such is the reason why the United Nations deemed it critical that children’s rights required special protection and must be respected, which commenced after the aftermath of the world wars that adversely impacted children. The League of Nations, the previous UN, originally formulated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after WWI, declaring children’s rights to life, food, shelter, education, justice, peace, and more (Noggle, 2018). After fully acknowledging that children were a particularly vulnerable group, the UN later on convened and adopted the Declaration of Geneva on Children’s Rights, outlining specific responsibilities towards a vulnerable child (Noggle, 2018). Following WWII, the UN finally accepted the Declaration which led to the creation and enactment of what is now known as the Convention on the Rights of the Child or CRC. It was the first-ever international law that effectively ensures the rights of children.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

By far, the CRC is the most universally and extensively ratification of human rights in history. It declares the rights of children in the expanse of 54 individual articles. The CRC encompasses various sets of children’s rights, including social, economic, cultural, civil, political, and certain rights of the child in difficult situations such as abused, separated from parents, exploited, or in armed conflicts (Kolosov, 2000). The Convention is guided by four core beliefs about children and their rights.

Firstly, children should not be suffering from discrimination (Article 2). Secondly, the child’s best interests shall be the primary concern in any decision that affects them (Article 3). Thirdly, every child has the inherent right to life and grow healthily (Article 6). Lastly, children are also entitled to have their voices and viewpoints taken into account in affairs that interest them (Article 12). Summing up all the holistic approach to protecting the children’s rights, the fundamental conception of the CRC is recognizing the child as a full member of the human family (Kolosov, 2000). It raises the full awareness that a child is neither a property of the family nor an object of adults’ rights but is an active subject who has his or her own rights. Hence, the family is regarded as the central unit of society that constitutes the environment where the developmental growth and well-being of a child naturally occurs.

The CRC Achievements and Key Challenges

Following the enactment of the CRC in 1989, the quality of living of children has been improved as many of the member nations have integrated the Convention’s provisions into their own constitutions and laws. The greatest impact documented after twenty-five years of the Convention’s implementation is the changed perception and treatment of children. They are now perceived to be active owners of their rights to proper education, health care, sufficient nutrition, space and place to play, and freedom from exploitation and violence (Mauras, 2011). For instance, a child born in 2010 has a significantly improved chance of living compared with a baby born in 1990, as the number of children below 5 years-old dying was reduced by 50% (Svevo-Cianci & Lee, 2010). This was primarily attributed to the improved antenatal care received by mothers as the CRC obliges States Parties to assure proper health care for moms before and after birth delivery.

Additionally, major improvements are noted in advancing child survival and development. These include access to affordable and evidence-based interventions against serious diseases, increased number of immunization, effective treatment for diarrhea, essential nutrient supplementation and addressing severe malnutrition, and enhanced access to safe water and sanitation (Svevo-Cianci & Lee, 2010). Moreover, numerous articles of the Convention emphasize the significance of early childhood development, resulting in an increased number of children availing vital early education through better-focused policies and programs (Mauras, 2011).

More importantly, the CRC has played a great role in creating a better understanding of child poverty. This was evidenced by social protection programs that have were proven to be highly effective in tackling perils and vulnerabilities associated with chronic child poverty, such as cash transfer programs that enabled poor families to afford education for their kids (Svevo-Cianci & Lee, 2010). Likewise, the Report Card series initiated by UNICEF successfully placed child poverty and well-being of children at the center of the policy discussion in the E.U. (Mauras, 2011). All these initiatives have been contributed to substantial influences on alleviating poverty among children, particularly growth in school enrolment, enhanced access to health care, and decreased percentages of malnutrition.

One great aspect of the Convention’s achievement was highly attributed to Australia’s notable incorporation of its provisions on family relations, particularly on the principle of the best interests of the child (BIC). The BIC has been the key guiding principle in many legislations in Australia, both at state and federal levels, and every Australian jurisdiction recognizes the utmost importance of this principle in their child protection legislation (Shakel, 2014). Moreover, major courts in Australia have also highly regarded the BIC principle in many contexts through its common law doctrine and principles. Even the High Court of Australia has shown this great consideration in a multitude of cases involving the wrongful birth case, concerning sterilization, and other cases that weighed against the BIC (Shakel, 2014). However, the CRC still criticized Australia’s approach to the BIC principle, claiming that it is not appropriately integrated and consistently applied in all procedural proceedings, policies, and programs, and policies concerning and impacting children.

CRC’s major concern for Australia, pertaining to the BIC principle, has prompted the country to create criteria and implement procedures that guide the determination of the BIC in every area and involving all responsible bodies. A perfect example of this is the adoption and implementation of the Family Law Act by the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006. This amendment introduced the independent children’s lawyer with the best interests role and clear statutory guidelines, which was amended in 2011 in response to Australia’s commitment to CRC’s BIC principle. As a result, it has been popularly acknowledged that Australian family laws and procedures have made substantial efforts in allowing children’s voices to be heard in matters or cases affecting them.

Conclusion

As seen from this children's rights essay, despite those remarkable achievements and great signs of progress in adopting and implementing the core principles of the CRC, a key challenge stands still. That is a huge number of young people are being born to impoverished families and children of ethnic groups living in rural regions and those who are disabled have still remained vulnerable. Only when the rights of all children, especially those who are most disadvantaged, are attained that the ultimate goal of the Convention can be achieved.