Convention on the Rights of the Child

 

Article 12

1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his
or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters
affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in
accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the
opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings
affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an
appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of
national law.

Article 13

1. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right
shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of
all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print,
in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.

2. The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but
these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:

(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre
public), or of public health or morals.

Article 14

1. States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion.

2. States Parties shall respect the rights and duties of the parents and,
when applicable, legal guardians, to provide direction to the child in the
exercise of his or her right in a manner consistent with the evolving
capacities of the child.

3. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to
such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect
public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and
freedoms of others.

Article 15

1. States Parties recognize the rights of the child to freedom of
association and to freedom of peaceful assembly.

2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of these rights other than
those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a
democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety,
public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or
the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Article 16

1. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with
his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks
on his or her honour and reputation.

2. The child has the right to the protection of the law against such
interference or attacks.

Article 17

States Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass
media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and
material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially
those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral
well-being and physical and mental health. To this end, States Parties
shall:

(a) Encourage the mass media to disseminate information and material of
social and cultural benefit to the child and in accordance with the spirit
of article 29;

(b) Encourage international co-operation in the production, exchange and
dissemination of such information and material from a diversity of
cultural, national and international sources;

(c) Encourage the production and dissemination of children’s books;

(d) Encourage the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic
needs of the child who belongs to a minority group or who is indigenous;

(e) Encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the
protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or
her well-being, bearing in mind the provisions of articles 13 and 18.

Article 18

1. States Parties shall use their best efforts to ensure recognition of the
principle that both parents have common responsibilities for the upbringing
and development of the child. Parents or, as the case may be, legal
guardians, have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and
development of the child. The best interests of the child will be their
basic concern.

2. For the purpose of guaranteeing and promoting the rights set forth in
the present Convention, States Parties shall render appropriate assistance
to parents and legal guardians in the performance of their child-rearing
responsibilities and shall ensure the development of institutions,
facilities and services for the care of children.

3. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that
children of working parents have the right to benefit from child-care
services and facilities for which they are eligible.

Article 19

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative,
social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of
physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent
treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in
the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the
care of the child

2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective
procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary
support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well
as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting,
referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child
maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial
involvement.

Article 20

1. A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family
environment, or in whose own best interests cannot be allowed to remain in
that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance
provided by the State.

2. States Parties shall in accordance with their national laws ensure
alternative care for such a child.

3. Such care could include, inter alia, foster placement, kafalah of
Islamic law, adoption or if necessary placement in suitable institutions
for the care of children. When considering solutions, due regard shall be
paid to the desirability of continuity in a child’s upbringing and to the
child’s ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background.

Article 21

States Parties that recognize and/or permit the system of adoption shall
ensure that the best interests of the child shall be the paramount
consideration and they shall:

(a) Ensure that the adoption of a child is authorized only by competent
authorities who determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures
and on the basis of all pertinent and reliable information, that the
adoption is permissible in view of the child’s status concerning parents,
relatives and legal guardians and that, if required, the persons concerned
have given their informed consent to the adoption on the basis of such
counselling as may be necessary;

(b) Recognize that inter- country adoption may be considered as an
alternative means of child’s care, if the child cannot be placed in a
foster or an adoptive family or cannot in any suitable manner be cared for
in the child’s country of origin;

(c) Ensure that the child concerned by inter-country adoption enjoys
safeguards and standards equivalent to those existing in the case of
national adoption;

(d) Take all appropriate measures to ensure that, in inter-country
adoption, the placement does not result in improper financial gain for
those involved in it;

(e) Promote, where appropriate, the objectives of the present article by
concluding bilateral or multilateral arrangements or agreements, and
endeavour, within this framework, to ensure that the placement of the child
in another country is carried out by competent authorities or organs.

Article 22

1. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that a child
who is seeking refugee status or who is considered a refugee in accordance
with applicable international or domestic law and procedures shall, whether
unaccompanied or accompanied by his or her parents or by any other person,
receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance in the enjoyment
of applicable rights set forth in the present Convention and in other
international human rights or humanitarian instruments to which the said
States are Parties.

2. For this purpose, States Parties shall provide, as they consider
appropriate, co-operation in any efforts by the United Nations and other
competent intergovernmental organizations or non-governmental organizations
co-operating with the United Nations to protect and assist such a child and
to trace the parents or other members of the family of any refugee child in
order to obtain information necessary for reunification with his or her
family In cases where no parents or other members of the family can be
found, the child shall be accorded the same protection as any other child
permanently or temporarily deprived of his or her family environment for
any reason, as set forth in the present Convention.

 

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Convention on the Rights of the Child, country.