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Convention on the Rights of the Child

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Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

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The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too. The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two

Optional Protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child. Every right spelled out in the Convention is inherent to the human dignity and harmonious development of every child. The Convention protects children’s rights by setting standards in health care; education; and legal, civil and social services. By agreeing to undertake the obligations of the Convention (by ratifying or acceding to it), national governments have committed themselves to protecting and ensuring children’s rights and they have agreed to hold themselves accountable for this commitment before the international community. States parties to the Convention are obliged to develop and undertake all actions and policies in the light of the best interests of the child.

• Convention on the Rights of the Child.  View
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.  View
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.  View
• New: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure. View. This Protocol was  adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2011; and is open for ratification as of January 2012. This optional protocol will enter into force when 10 States have ratified it. A communications procedure allows individuals, groups or their representatives, claiming that their rights have been violated by a State that is a party to a Convention, to bring a communication before the relevant UN Committee, provided that the State has accepted the procedure.

Committee on the Rights of the Child

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by its State parties. It also monitors implementation of two optional protocols to the Convention, on involvement of children in armed conflict and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights are being implemented. States must report initially two years after acceding to the Convention and then every five years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of “concluding observations”. The Committee reviews additional reports which must be submitted by States who have acceded to the two Optional Protocols to the Convention. The Committee cannot consider individual complaints, although child rights may be raised before other committees with competence to consider individual complaints. The Committee also publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, known as general comments on thematic issues and organizes days of general discussion.

General Comments of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

The Committee on the Rights of the Child publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, in the form of General Comments on thematic issues. The Committee has issued general comments on the following subjects:

No. 12:  The right of the child to be heard
No. 11: Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention
No. 10: Children’s rights in Juvenile Justice
No. 9: The rights of children with disabilities
No. 8: The right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment
No. 7: Implementing child rights in early childhood
No. 6: Treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin
No. 5: General measures of implementation for the Convention on the Rights of the Child
No. 4: Adolescent Health
No. 3: HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child
No. 2: The role of independent human rights institutions
No. 1: The aims of education

View General Comments

Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

By 1990, international awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation and the sale of children had grown to such a level that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography by resolution 1990/68, mandating the Special Rapporteur to investigate the exploitation of children around the world and to submit reports thereon to the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights, making recommendations for the protection of the rights of the children concerned.

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur includes the following:

• analyse the root causes of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
• identify new patterns of sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
• identify, exchange and promote best practices on measures to combat the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
• continue efforts to promote comprehensive strategies and measures on the prevention of sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
• make recommendations on the promotion and protection of human rights of children actual or potential victims of sale, prostitution and pornography, as well as on the aspects related to the rehabilitation of child victims of sexual exploitation.

To read more about the Special Rapporteur’s activities, or view annual or country reports, refer to the relevant OHCHR webpage.