Why Are Children’s Rights Not Just Like Any Other Human Right? The Role of Families and Communities

Why Are Children’s Rights So Important?

Children’s rights remain the least contested of all human rights. If you walked into a crowded room and declared, “All children should have the same protection and human rights as adults,” few would disagree. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), with nearly universal ratification, has been hailed as a significant achievement in international human rights.

Yet, the reality for children worldwide remains dire. Each year, between 500 million and 1.5 billion children experience some form of violence. Around 168 million children work, with 85 million engaged in hazardous or exploitative labor. By 2020, an estimated 140 million girls will have become child brides, including 50 million under the age of 15.

What Are We Doing Wrong?

If almost everyone agrees that children deserve rights, why do violations persist on such a large scale?

Unlike adults, children cannot directly seek redress for rights violations. Instead, they rely on parents, guardians, or extended family members to act on their behalf. This dependency grants families and communities significant control over the implementation of children’s rights. However, this also creates a major challenge.

While international laws recognize children as individual rights holders, families and communities often resist this concept. Many view it as government interference in parenting. Although few dispute that children deserve protection, opinions vary on how much autonomy they should have.

The Role of Families in Children’s Rights

Children’s rights challenge traditional power structures within families. They shift responsibility to parents and guardians, recognizing them as duty-bearers under international law. This concept, however, often triggers resistance. Some parents fear that legal frameworks undermine their authority, while others worry about the extent of state intervention in family life.

Despite these concerns, families and communities play a decisive role in upholding children’s rights. Most child rights interventions focus on government reforms, changing laws, training officials, and implementing child-friendly policies. However, without engaging directly with families, these efforts achieve limited success. Policies alone cannot protect children if the environments they grow up in remain unchanged.

A Community-Centered Approach to Children’s Rights

Placing children at the center of rights-based initiatives requires working with families and communities. Instead of focusing solely on legal frameworks, interventions must support the systems that directly influence a child’s well-being.

Empowering families to recognize and uphold children’s rights strengthens long-term protection. Without this foundation, even the best policies will struggle to create meaningful change. By integrating legal reforms with family and community engagement, societies can build sustainable solutions that truly safeguard children’s rights.

Credits

This article was originally written by Sheila Varadan, a legal expert in children’s rights and human rights law.

Reference

• [1] UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3.
• [2] There are currently 196 parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the only State which has not ratified or acceded to the UN Convention is the United States of America, as of 26 June 2017, see https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&clang=_en
• [3] The UN Special Representative to the Secretary General on Violence against Children, Toward a World Free from Violence: Global Survey on Violence against Children, 17 October 2013, http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/page/920
• [4] International Labour Organization, ‘Facts and Figures,’ Marking progress against child labour – Global estimates and trends 2000 – 2012, ILO-IPEC, 2013, http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang–en/index.htm
• [5] For example, under Article 14 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child has a right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which includes the right to oppose the religion of their family and community. More than 20 States have reserved on Article 14, claiming that they do not accept that children have a right to refuse or abide by the religion of their family or community.