Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20th November 1989 and came into force on 2nd September 1990. It is a statement of children’s rights, and over 150 countries are parties to it, although in some instances there are significant reservations. It has three overriding themes: the child’s best interests, respect for the child’s best interests, respect for the child’s evolving capacities, and protection against all forms of discrimination. The UK Government ratified the Convention in December 1991. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child now constitutes the most authoritative and comprehensive statement of the fundamental rights of children covering civil and political, social, economic, cultural, recreational and humanitarian rights. The expression ‘rights’ must be treated with some caution, since many of the aspirations for children set out in the UN Convention could arguably never be enforced as legal rights by individual children in courts. Although there are several Conventions operating, one that is of greatest significance to the United Kingdom is the European Convention on Human Rights. In broad terms the UK government is legally b