About the committee

Legal framework

Complaints, inquiries and jurisprudence

Participation

Resources

About Treaty Bodies

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About the committee

Legal framework

Complaints, inquiries and jurisprudence

Participation

Resources

About Treaty Bodies

The Convention on the Rights of the Child protects the right of all children, everywhere, to be free from discrimination, violence and neglect.

It means that, for example:

  • children need to be treated with dignity and respect;
  • they should be cared for, develop and be part of their communities;
  • they have a right to an education, to express their own opinions and to participate in decisions that concern them; and
  • they have the right to be protected against all violence and discrimination, wherever they live, regardless of their ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

Children have human rights and they should be empowered to claim them. Thirty years ago, the Convention recognized children as their own beings entitled to non-negotiable rights. Nearly all Governments - with the exclusion of one - have pledged to respect, protect and promote those rights. This makes the Convention one of the most visionary and universally accepted human rights agreements in history.

This anniversary aimed to create the momentum for the international community to step up its efforts to help children thrive, and to renew their commitment to protect and promote all their human rights. While notable progress has been made in the past three decades, significant challenges remain, in particular for girls, children with disabilities and children in disadvantaged and vulnerable situations.

Let’s realize the timeless vision of all human rights for all children: getting closer to ending child poverty and enhancing child survival; ending child marriages and increasing the number of children enrolled in schools; ending children’s social exclusion and fostering their equal access to essential services; no longer silencing children and instead letting them participate meaningfully in decisions that concern them.

Let all children thrive! Let us stand, alongside them, for their human rights!

CRC30 events

The Convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1989. To celebrate the Convention’s 30th birthday, the following events were held:

In Geneva:

  • Commemorative conference, 18-20 November 2019
  • High-level mainstreaming panel on CRC30, 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council
  • An event organized by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, 16 September 2019. See the full programme of the event in English | Français | Español (Word)
  • An exhibition (PDF) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 16-27 September 2019

The Committee is grateful to the European Union and the State of Qatar, as well as its partners Enfants du monde, Child Right Connect and UNICEF for their support of its celebration of the anniversary.

In New York:

  • Commemorative event, 20 November 2019
Country pledges

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Convention, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the body in charge of monitoring States compliance with the provisions of the Convention, encouraged States parties to renew their commitment to the Convention by pledging to take one specific and measurable action for the promotion, protection and realization of the rights of the child. On 8 March 2019, the Committee requested Member States to provide information to the Committee on their commitments with respect to children’s rights, as well as national initiatives, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Convention. Member States were invited to use this template (also available in Français and Español) (Word).

States were also invited to join the UNICEF global pledge “For every child, a right”.

List of country pledges:

Video: Pledge by Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa

Infographic: Click image below for full-size A4 PDF file.

Pledges by the then Committee on the Rights of the Child
Pledges by other stakeholders

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