Children all over the world are born of adults who themselves were also children at their time and the chain goes on and on and on. If today’s adults were not taken care of properly by their parents, then they would not be around to bear their own children. This does not necessarily mean that they met no hardships as they grew up. No.

 The fact of the matter is that today the world over is more informed and civilized to a point where by it recognizes that each individual dually alive has its own rights of recognition and respect. These rights have been put into perspective and can easily be identified as per their respective application.

 Children have of recent times been given more attention than ever before as they have been recognized to be very vulnerable and totally unaware of their rights due to their low levels of understanding and comprehending, hence the lack of the capacity to implement and protect themselves.

 This is what led to the formation of the laws that today protect the rights of all children in the world regardless. The United Nations General Assembly, on 12^th December 1989 came up with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Document A/RES/44/25 that clearly outlines and explains the rights of all children and their implementation.

 Children's rights are comprehensively protected by a wide-ranging set of international and regional instruments spanning human rights, humanitarian and refugee law. Children benefit from the rights contained in general treaties. In addition, a number of specialist instruments have been created to accord extra protection to children given their particular vulnerabilities and the importance to society as a whole in ensuring the healthy development and active participation of its young members.

 It’s upon each individual to uphold these rights and make sure that children are protected from harm and accorded their time to live out their childhood and develop into adulthood in the best achievable normal way.

 Nakuru Youth Foundation upholds the belief that every child should be protected and provided for regardless of whom he/she is or comes from. It’s the responsibility of the bearers of these children to ensure their survival and normal development as much as it is for the communities and societies that these children live in. The consequences of disregarding are born by all irrespective of whom it is that bore the child/children.

Who is a child?

The definition of a child under the CRC covers all human beings under the age of 18 unless the relevant national law recognises an earlier age of majority. However, the Convention emphasises that the substitution of an earlier age of majority must be in conformity with the spirit of the Convention and its guiding principles and thus should not be used to undermine the rights of a child.

There are no definitions of other terms used to describe young people such as "adolescents", "teenagers" or "youth" in international law. Some organizations have adopted working definitions to facilitate their programmatic work. The World Health Organisation, for example, has adopted the following working definitions: "adolescent" refers to any individual aged between 10-19 years; "young person" refers to any individual between 10-24 years; and "youth" to persons between the ages of 15-24 years.

In everyday language, the word "children" usually implies small children, especially those under ten years of age. It is important to note however that the CRC refers to all children by this term including those that one might normally refer to by other terms e.g. adolescents. The extensive provisions of the CRC apply to all persons under 18 but it may be that certain articles are of more relevance to small children e.g. basic survival while others are more significant for older children e.g. protection from sexual exploitation and military recruitment.

Rights at Stake:

Children's rights cover every aspect of the lives of children and adolescents and can be broken down into the following main categories: 

Survival rights: the right to life and to have the most basic needs met (e.g., adequate standard of living, shelter, nutrition, medical treatment). Development rights: the rights enabling children to reach their fullest potential (e.g. education, play and leisure, cultural activities, access to information and freedom of thought, conscience and religion).  Participation rights: rights that allow children and adolescents to take an active role in their communities (e.g., the freedom to express opinions; to have a say in matters affecting their own lives; to join associations). Protection rights: rights that are essential for safeguarding children and adolescents from all forms of abuse, neglect and exploitation (e.g., special care for refugee children; protection against involvement in armed conflict, child labour, sexual exploitation, torture and drug abuse).   Specific issues: Child labour - children work for a variety of reasons in differing cultural, social and economic circumstances. Whether work is defined as exploitative will depend on a range of factors including the work itself, the work environment, the presence of particular hazards, the perceived benefits of work and the nature of the employment relationship. Gender also plays a role as girls and boys may be subjected to different forms of exploitative labour. Another important consideration is how work interferes with the right of a child to education. Some forms of child labour have clearly been identified as harmful and are often referred to as the "worst" forms of child labour e.g. sexual exploitation, military recruitment. Sexual exploitation - children and adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation given their dependency on others and their limited ability to protect themselves. Sexual abuse and exploitation can take a variety of forms including rape, commercial sexual exploitation and domestic abuse. Sexual exploitation has far-reaching effects for the physical and mental health of a child. It is estimated that 1 million children (mainly girls but also a significant number of boys) enter the multi-billion dollar sex trade each year. Military recruitment - An estimated 300,000 children and adolescents are engaged in armed conflict and are often forced into committing extremely brutal acts of violence. Children have a right to specific protection in situations of armed conflict. Juvenile justice - Children and adolescents held in custody for crimes may suffer torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, they may be unlawfully detained and be denied their right to a fair trial. They may be given sentences which damage their well-being and prevent their successful re-integration into society. The administration of juvenile justice is carried out in accordance with the best interests of the child. Rights granted to children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child must be implemented with regard to three key principles: Best interests - In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. Non-discrimination - Each child's rights are ensured without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status. Participation - Children who arecapable of forming his or her own views have the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

 In order for us to understand better about these rights and our responsibilities, we have included the following links (Blog Roll on the right of the page) that bear more comprehensive information of what is happening in the world and the most recent developments.