Rights of the child in the adult world

From 14 November to 4 December, an exhibition “Rights of the child in the adult world” dedicated to the Universal Children's Day runs in the Official Documents Division Reading Room (room 207).

This day was established in 1954 by the UN General Assembly (resolution 836 (IX)). 20 November is the day when it is annually celebrated. It was made not just as a holiday, but as a day to help raise awareness of the issues and challenges surrounding children in today’s society. The Universal Children’s Day is, above all, a reminder to adults about the need to respect children’s rights to life, freedom of thought and religion, education, recreation and leisure, protection from physical and psychological abuse. State policy should always be aimed at providing material and moral well-being of children around the world. They need the right conditions for the full development of childhood. For our children - our future, that we give them today, we get them tomorrow. Therefore, we, the adults have to give children the opportunity to grow up healthy and happy, surrounded by love and care, to later become a worthy people, that will make our world better.

It wasn’t accidental that 20 November was chosen by countries - participants of the UN as the Universal Children’s Day. In 1959, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child on this day. The document united 10 basic principles and proclaimed the ultimate aim "to provide children a happy childhood". To achieve this goal, it calls for "parents ... voluntary organizations, local authorities and national government "to respect the rights of children, implementing the appropriate legislative and other measures. In 1989, thirty years later the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted on the same day. The Convention’s provisions coincide with four basic requirements that must ensure the rights of children: survival, development, protection and participation in society. The main principle stated by the Convention is the recognition of the child fully fledged personality.

These international instruments defined children’s rights to education, health, enjoy art works, as well as the full development of their abilities in the conditions that are free from hunger and poverty, violence and exploitation.

Children make up about 20–25% of the population in each country. They are the most vulnerable people on the planet, so they need constant care and protection. In many countries, children do not have basic conditions for normal life, they are hungry, sick, living in unsanitary conditions, prone to disease, have no access to education, can not express an opinion. In the world about eleven million children annually die without reaching the age of five, many get maimed for life or become mentally retarded. The worst thing in this situation is that these unfortunate consequences are often the result of poverty, abuse, discrimination, and sometimes lead to death, even the most simple of the disease that can be easily and quickly treated in developed countries, but in the third world they become deadly.

Realizing the importance of the problem, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the leading international organization that protects the rights of children around the world, was created under the auspices of the UN in 1946. UNICEF has programs aimed at protecting the health and full development of every child, it fights against discrimination, conducts charitable activities and information campaigns to help children and families who are victims of emergencies and natural disasters.

The exhibition includes more than 100 documents in Russian and English: books, periodicals, mimeographed materials of the UN, brochures and booklets.

The exhibition consists of the following sections:

• National and international legal instruments for the protection of children’s rights.
• UNICEF activities.
• Protecting the rights and interests of children in the Republic of Belarus.
• Promoting healthy children.
• Providing quality education for every child.
• Protecting children from abuse, exploitation and violence.

The exhibition is made for teachers, lawyers, sociologists, educators, workers in the field of health care and culture, as well as for those who are not indifferent to the future of our children.

Contact telephone: (+375 17) 293 27 34.

Useful links:

• Universal Children’s Day
• UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
• Committee on the Rights of the Child
• International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
• Child development
• Child health
• Child maltreatment
• Help for children
• MDG Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
• MDG Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
• 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (8–9 October 2009)
• General Assembly Special Session on Children (New York, 8–10 May 2002)
• World Summit for Children (New York, 29–30 September 1990)
• UN Works for Children
• Securing the future – advocating for children
• Children’s rights
• Children and armed conflict

Documents

• Declaration of the commemorative high-level plenary meeting devoted to the follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children (13 December 2007)
• Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime (22 July 2005)
• Declaration and plan of action "A World Fit for Children" (10 May 2002)
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (25 May 2000)
• Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (Convention No. 182, 1 June, 1999)
• UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (14 December 1990)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (20 November 1989)
• Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally (3 December 1986)
• UN Standard Minimum Rules for the administration of juvenile justice ("The Beijing Rules") (29 November, 1985)
• Minimum Age Convention (No. 138, 26 June, 1973)
• Declaration of the Rights of the Child (20 November 1959)