NCJ Number
228906
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 33 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 771-782
Date Published
November 2009
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper presents an overview of some of the major achievements and remaining challenges of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) implementation on both the international and national level spanning 20 years.
Abstract
In November 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was unanimously adopted by all member-states of the United Nations. This comprehensive treaty on the human rights of children is currently implemented in 193 states with various results depending not only on available resources, but on the incorporation of a child rights based approach of legislation and policymaking and thus with challenges remaining. Global figures show progress in reduction of infant mortality, in child labor and in child soldiers, and an increase of school enrollment and completion rates, in particular for girls. One of the major challenges for the implementation of the CRC in the next decade is the reduction and elimination of child poverty. Attention has been given to poverty reduction in general but very little to the impact of poverty on children and/or measures which should or can be taken to put an end to child poverty. This paper presents an overview of the impact CRC has had and still has on the setting and development of the international agenda for the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of children, as well as focusing on the impact at the national level. The paper concludes with remarks on poverty as a remaining challenge for the implementation of children's rights. References