Opinion: Understanding the rights of

children
By Human Rights Watch, adapted by Newsela staff on 07.12.17
Word Count 696
Level 830L

Children sit in a school in Bamozai, Afghanistan. The school has no building. Classes are held outdoors in the shade of an
orchard. Photo by: Captain John Severns/Wikimedia

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a global treaty. It was created by the United
Nations, or U.N., in 1989. The U.N. is a group of countries that work together to promote
international cooperation.

The treaty establishes global rules to make sure that children are protected. Countries that
sign the treaty make a promise to protect children from mistreatment. They also promise to
improve children's education, health care, and quality of life.

How many countries have ratified the convention?

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely approved human rights treaty in
history. It has been signed by 194 countries. The only ones that have not signed the treaty are
the United States and the African countries of Somalia and South Sudan.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1

How has the convention improved the lives of children?

Many countries have used the treaty to strengthen their laws. Children are now better off in
many ways than they were 25 years ago. For example, children's healthcare has improved.

Children today are also much more likely to attend school. In 1990, only about 5 out of 10
children in the least developed countries attended school. Today, about 8 out of 10 attend
school. Children are also prevented from working if they are too young.

Physically punishing children is no longer allowed in 42 countries. Before 1989, this was only
true in four countries.

How are governments failing to implement the convention?

Many children have been left out of the progress of the last 25 years. This is because some
countries do not follow their own laws for protecting children.

At least 58 million children today are not in school. Many children suffer and die from diseases
that can be easily prevented. About 168 million children are involved in child labor, meaning
that they work at a young age. Every year an estimated 14 million girls around the world are
married before they turn 18.

At least one million children are kept in prison each day. Most kids also live in countries where
it is still legal to punish children physically.

How is the convention enforced?

Countries that sign the treaty must send reports every five years to a U.N. committee. The
committee is a group of experts who examine the reports. They find out what countries are
doing well and what they need to do better. The committee then recommends ways to improve
the lives of children.

Why hasn’t the United States signed the treaty?

The United States is the only country that does not plan to sign the treaty. The reason is that
some U.S. government officials and groups are opposed to it. Some claim that there is no need
to sign the treaty. U.S. laws already follow most of its rules, they argue.

However, U.S. laws fail to follow the treaty in important ways. For example, the U.S. allows
courts to send people to prison for life. This can happen even if they carried out a crime before
they were 18. They may never be able to leave prison, even if they change and behave well.

Labor laws sometimes allow children as young as 12 to be put to work on farms. These
practices would not be allowed if the U.S. signed the treaty.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2

What should governments do to better fulfill the rights of children?

The rights of millions of children are still violated every day. Governments should take several
key steps to protect children.

First, they should review national laws. They should make sure that these laws follow the
treaty. For example, governments should make sure that child labor and child marriage are not
allowed. They should also make sure that it is against the law to hurt and take advantage of
children. Governments should make sure that people who hurt children are punished.

Governments should help more children attend school and improve children's health. They
should identify children who are not given schooling, health and other services. In many cases,
these are girls, children with disabilities or non-white children. Governments should make
plans and rules to help them. They should also end practices that are shown to be ineffective
and damaging to children.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3