We celebrate the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child today. Children finally became full bearers of human rights under international law thanks to this landmark Convention, the most widely ratified international treaty in the world.
Countries have made substantial progress in acknowledging and protecting children’s rights over the past three decades. They should continue doing so, including in Europe.
Children across our continent indeed continue to routinely suffer from violations of their rights. Many of them are victims of different forms of violence, live in poverty, are segregated in education or in institutions and are deprived of the right to a nationality. Children whose rights have been violated do not always have access to effective remedies and their views are often not heard and taken into account.
Migrant and refugee children are especially vulnerable to rights violations. Unaccompanied migrant minors are, for example, often detained or left without any support or care.
To keep true to the letter and the spirit of the Convention, States should incorporate it into domestic legislation and fully implement its provisions. They are also obliged to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known to both adults and children.
Safeguarding children’s rights is not an option, it’s a legal and moral obligation.