Growth of children's rights

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) has received almost universal support. Within five years of coming into force it had been ratified by 177 of the world's 191 countries (Lansdown, 1995). A convention of such magnitude will inevitably impact on all aspects of children's lives – political, social, economic and cultural. It will also impact on those working with or on behalf of children. Professionals such as planners, architects, recreation managers, researchers and others who are involved with providing services that children and young people use will be required increasingly to take the articles of the Convention into account in carrying out their work

It has been suggested by some commentators (eg Newell, 1995) that the Convention is too distant from the lives of children in the UK to be effective. However, a campaign based on the Convention was sustained throughout the 1990s. The Children's Rights Development Unit (CRDU) was set up in 1992 to promote the Convention's implementation. In addition to its campaigning, CRDU has worked on the idea of a national agenda for children, based on all the articles of the Convention. On the face of things, and certainly compared with the 1989 Children Act, the Convention has provided an important framework for promoting children's participation.

The working group charged with drafting the Convention had to consider how best to take account of children's differing circumstances and needs, and how to reflect the historical, economic, social and political contexts of the countries in which children live. It had to have relevance for countries with very different levels of development. It was a Convention that needed to address the life-threatening conditions facing children in many of the developing countries while simultaneously challenging the complacency of Western countries such as the UK. Children's rights also had to be addressed and articulated at different levels of responsibility: children, family, neighbourhood, local and central government, international governmental and non-governmental organisations. Despite the disparate circumstances and breadth of issues faced in developing the Convention, a common philosophy was identified. The underlying philosophy of the Convention is important in that it emphasises the need to always act in ‘the best interests of the child’.