Welcome to the Children's Rights Centre Web Site.
 

As a non-profit organization working in Durban South Africa, we strive to build a Child-Friendly Society. We base our vision of a Child-Friendly Society on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Human Rights Begin with Children's Rights

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it is stated that every member of the human race is entitled to dignity and to fundamental rights that are equal and inalienable. The right to "dignity" implies that every person has the right to be respected and is of worth simply because he or she is human.

Children are also human beings! They are also entitled to fundamental human rights, and have the right to dignity, and to be valued as human beings. This is stated categorically in the Universal Declaration.
However, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also proclaims that childhood is entitled to "special care and assistance".

This is why the Convention on the Rights of the Child was drawn up - to protect and promote children's rights and provide guidelines for monitoring as well as for redress where violations do occur.

Why do Children have Rights?

All children have the RIGHT to have their basic needs met, not only for survival and protection but also to be able to develop to their full potential, to participate as members of society (according to their age and development), and to grow up to be caring and responsible citizens.

The expression of the human rights for children take into account children's needs - the needs that must be met for children to have a happy and fulfilled childhood, so that they are able to grow to up to be strong, independent, caring and responsible citizens.

Survival: children first and foremost have a right to life - to have their basic physical needs met for food, shelter, safety, and health care.

Protection: they also need to be protected from injury and harm, not only physical but also emotional.

Development: they need all the things that will help them to grow and develop. They need friends and family, love and laughter. They need fresh air and safe places to play. They need stories and music, schools and libraries and all that stimulates the mind. They need to practice their culture and religion and to develop a sense of awe and wonder.

Participation: they need to share in the life of their family, school, community and nation, to take responsibilities and to have a voice.

Principles in understanding children's rights

From the above starting point that children's rights equal children's needs we develop the following principles:

Children's needs must be individually and developmentally understood, looking at the whole child.

All rights and needs apply to every child without any discrimination by race, culture, religion, gender, class, ability or age.

Rights must also take into account the fact that every child is unique and has special needs according to his or her individual age, character and developmental stage; and these needs change as the child grows.

Children with special needs such as those who are physically and mentally less able - or MORE able - have the right to have their special needs met. Other children with special rights are those in especially difficult circumstances - those who are in war zones, the refugees or displaced, the abused, hurt or bereaved, those suffering from gross poverty, those involved in child labor and sex work, children living with HIV/AIDS, and so on.

Developmental rights at the appropriate stage: Children as they grow and develop, need to complete the developmental tasks that are their priority at each stage of their lives. They need to have the opportunities, at certain optimal developmental periods, to learn such things as language, social skills, cognitive skills, and fine-motor skills. If the optimal stage is missed, they need special help to try to make it up. For example, a child who is deaf, still needs to learn a language before he or she is five, whether it is spoken or sign language. This is the best time for the brain to build all the connections needed for language. If this "window of opportunity" is missed, the child has the right to special or remedial care to catch up on his or her development.

Rights and responsibilities and children's participation - Children's rights are often paired with children's responsibilities but rights are not earned by fulfilling responsibilities - rights are inherent. We cannot refuse to give a child something that is his or her right because we disapprove of certain behavior.

Rights are reciprocal: what children should learn is that rights are part of a pattern of human relationships. Everyone has rights, and we need respect to these, and to negotiate when rights conflict. For example the child has a right to have a voice but he or she also has to listen to others! As the UN Convention states in the Preamble: children have the right to be brought up in a spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity.

Age and capacity: children have the right to have their decisions taken into account, according to their age and maturity but they should not be burdened with responsibilities that are beyond their capability. For example, they have the right and duty to participate and share in family and school chores, and other group responsibilities according to their capacity. (See also The Child's Right to Participation, and also what the UN Convention says about Child Labor Article: 32).

Children whose rights have been respected and protected, grow into adults who respect the rights of others.