The Human Rights Regime

"Human rights are those rights which are essential to live as human beings - basic standards without which people cannot survive and develop in dignity", UNICEF. The human rights regime is an immense framework and the rights of children are of the utmost importance because of their vulnerability. Human Rights as pertaining to children has been a long road. The groundwork was laid in 1945 when the United Nations Charter urged nations to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms "for all" . The Universal Declaration of Human Rights followed 3 years later stating "motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and protection", which I mentioned in my initial blog. Several Declarations in the Rights of the Child were agreed to, the last in 1959 which adopted the philosophy that "Mankind owes to the child the best that it has to give".

As we discussed in class, in 1976, the first two covenants, the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, became binding on States parties. These two covenants used the foundation of the rights and principles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Children’s rights followed in 1978 when the United Nations agreed on the articles of the Convention on the Rights of Child. Final approval did not come for several years until November 20, 1989, when the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In September 1990, twenty member states ratified the Convention and it then became legally binding.

It is rather unsettling that it took so long for the Convention on the Rights of the Child to be ratified. If "Mankind owes to the child the best that it has to give", "Mankind" should move a little quicker in protecting the rights of children. The important thing that we must remember is that strides have been made since it was ratified, however, the implementation must be expedited.