What is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child?
Discover how children’s rights are protected by international treaties.
Summary
The main international human rights treaty on children’s rights is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention).
The Australian Government has pledged to uphold these rights and reports on its progress to the United Nations every 5 years.
About the Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Convention is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world. It contains a full range of human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. But also special rights that are just for children.
Australia ratified the Convention in December 1990. This means the government has a duty to ensure that all children in Australia enjoy the rights set out in the treaty.
The 4 main principles of the Convention are:
- the right to non-discrimination
- the best interests of the child as a primary consideration
- the right to life, survival and development
- the right to express views and have them taken into account.
Reporting on children's rights to the United Nations
The Australian Government must report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child every 5 years on its progress in implementing the Convention.
The Attorney General's Department prepares the report with input from state and territory governments.
Before a formal hearing in Geneva, the Committee will:
- request information on select issues
- consider submissions from the Commission and non-government organisations.
You can find the Committee's concluding observations and recommendations on Australia on the UN website. These provide guidance to the government about how to better protect children’s rights. Children’s rights advocates can also use the findings to influence government action.
Our role
The Commission provides independent reports to the UN Committee on Australia's implementation of the Convention.
The Commission can also address the Committee in pre-sessional meetings.
About the optional protocols to the Convention
Australia has ratified the 2 optional protocols to the Convention.
These are extra agreements on issues that are not fully covered by the Convention.
They are about:
- the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
- the involvement of children in armed conflict.
Australia has not ratified the optional protocol on a communications procedure which allows children to bring individual complaints to the Committee.
