November 20th Marks the 36th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child : Marta Santos Pais

This year marks the 36th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly. A bittersweet commemoration. But for our vibrant child rights movement, there is a lot to celebrate, and a lot more to achieve.

For many decades, children’s rights were on the periphery of the debate. In fact, when the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted, there were voices wondering about the need for such a treaty and if it would bring any added value. These doubts did not last long, and the principles and provisions of the Convention quickly became a reference for nations around the world.

Human rights start with children’s rights and nowadays children’s rights are central to the policy agenda. They permeate the international development agenda, are a priority in humanitarian action, an imperative for migration and refugee questions, and, despite an often tense and divisive atmosphere, they are at the core of the agenda of the UN Security Council.

A lot has happened over the past years: the reform of national Constitutions, the enactment of strong child rights laws, the shaping of new policies and establishment of independent child rights institutions, the gathering of new data and the constant refinement of monitoring tools to assess progress, capture children’s concerns and grant visibility to neglected areas; the strengthening of partnerships to reinforce children’s protective environments; and a worldwide alliance with children and young people themselves, always resourceful, enthusiastic, and determined to achieve positive change.

This is a never-ending process. In recent months, Lao PDR became the first South East Asian country to prohibit the physical punishment of children, including as a form of discipline, and to reinforce this measure with the establishment of hotlines and consultation centers to enable children to access counseling, medical treatment and legal support. Scotland incorporated the Convention into its legal framework, making it directly enforceable and always mandatory: when laws are enacted, when policies and budgets are shaped, when data is gathered, when progress is monitored. Ukraine adopted a new Law on Preschool Education to overcome the war’s devastating blow on early childhood development and to ensure an inclusive, equitable and quality system for young children in frontline and remote areas. And last June, Pakistan’s Parliament set the minimum legal age of marriage at 18 for both girls and boys in the Islamabad Capital Territory, making it the country’s second province with a gender-equal legal framework in this area.

Children’s rights – an ethical and legal imperative

This wave of progress is to be welcomed. But as we know well, it is in small places that human rights gain real meaning. Small places that cannot be seen on a map. Yet, they are the world of the individual child: the school the child attends, the neighborhood where the child grows up; the family environment the child calls home. Unless human rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.

For countless thousands of children, daily life remains very far from the ideals and provisions of the Convention. As a young Syrian refugee told me: “I have dreamt a lot…But nothing changes… So, I am tired of dreaming… The problem is that it feels like hanging on a rope…And we never know whether the rope will hold, or it will break…” Clearly, we cannot let the rope break!

In today’s world, human rights face constant pushbacks. International law is being neglected; binding legal obligations ignored; international justice institutions targeted by sanctions; human rights and humanitarian organizations undermined, defunded and compromised in their ability to serve the most vulnerable, and to exact accountability for the most serious violations. The world is in a state of turmoil… Moving forward seems hard, demanding, unsurmountable. But it is at times of difficulties, when international legal order is under threat, when countries are ravaged by war, political instability, economic uncertainty and unpredictable climate change that our commitment to safeguard children’s rights matters the most. It is then, more than ever, that we must vigorously chart ahead. As Martin Luther King used to say: “If you cannot run, walk; if you cannot walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving ahead!"

Steady progress made

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is not a magic wand. But it provides a strategic roadmap to help move ahead faster and further in our journey for the realization of children’s rights. We need to build upon its lessons and unique potential.

I was privileged to participate in the drafting of the Convention. There were many pushbacks during those long and difficult years: political confrontation, divisive tension, deep mistrust… At the start, it was difficult to agree on anything, with such contrasting ideological positions and different approaches to human rights and children’s concerns. But as often happens, the children’s agenda helped to create an incremental space of convergence and became a powerful bridge builder: a bridge between different legal systems, between countries’ different levels of development and between far apart political positions and diverse cultural approaches.

In the end, the Convention was adopted by consensus, it entered into force quicker than any previous treaty, and it soon became the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the history of the United Nations. With its binding nature, it provides a common legal framework and policy guidance to promote progress across nations and foster cross fertilization of experiences.

The Convention was groundbreaking in many ways. For the first time, it brought together children’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, all inalienable, indivisible and inherent to the human dignity of the child. Importantly, it made a paradigm shift in the way children are envisaged: not anymore as passive beneficiaries of services or adults in the making, but as full-fledged citizens. This seems obvious today… but it was decades in the making.

For many States, it was the first time they committed to a human rights treaty. It was also the first time they accepted a system of international scrutiny, monitored through periodic and public assessments of progress by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Through constructive dialogue, this monitoring process helped to acknowledge national positive developments, and to expose deficiencies and serious human rights violations, while shedding light on the most invisible and voiceless children. Rather than finger pointing, it engaged UN agencies, civil society organizations and other competent bodies in a dynamic process of international cooperation and technical assistance to support and advance national implementation efforts.

The Convention also set legal binding obligations in previously unaddressed human rights areas: the rights of children with disabilities, freedom from violence, adoption and inter-country adoption; respect for the environment… Today, these are central topics for policy making. But they were deeply ignored and ill-perceived in the 80’s. With its pioneering approach, the Convention informed the development of new international and regional legal standards and influenced groundbreaking decisions. The recent Advisory Opinions of the Inter American Court on Human Rights and the International Court of Justice on States obligations under international law to protect the climate system and prevent environmental degradation are remarkable illustrations.

Today, the Convention is reinforced by three Optional Protocols: on children’s protection in war times, on freedom from sexual exploitation, and on a system of complaints to challenge children’s rights violations. But the story does not end here. Discussions on a fourth Protocol have started in Geneva, to formally and explicitly recognize early childhood care and education as a core dimension of the right to education, and to ensure public pre-primary education and secondary education free for all children. Clearly, a crucial debate to follow and a unique opportunity to reaffirm and safeguard the rights of the child.

These brief highlights tell a story of success which is well-known to all those in the child rights community. But this story remains an unfamiliar narrative for those outside our universe. Part of our accountability for children’s rights is to publicize it better and make people feel excited about its achievements. Success breeds success, fuels optimism, and helps to accelerate momentum to overcome adversity and further advance the child rights agenda.


Persisting threats for children’s rights

We clearly have good news to spread. But they are simply not good enough. As stressed by my Syrian refugee friend, for millions of children the ideals of the Convention remain distant and illusory.

Children represent less than one third of the world’s population. But they constitute more than half of those living in extreme poverty and almost half of those forcibly displaced. Violence remains a silent emergency. Every four minutes, a child dies from an act of violence. Children suffer physical, emotional and sexual violence online or offline, in care centers, in schools, in church institutions, and within the family. Sadly, most children suffer in silence and loneliness. They feel too frightened to speak up, uncertain they will be heard, lacking the necessary information to seek help, and constantly missing the support they require for their healing, recovery and reintegration.

One in every five children struggle to survive in war affected countries. Sadly, 2024 was the year with the highest number of grave violations against children affected by conflict – a tragic 25% increase over the previous year. Sexual violence has become a routine tactic of war. In the DRC, a child is raped every half hour, survivors are as young as toddlers. In Sudan, more than half of the 12 million displaced people are children - many are malnourished, separated from their families, and deeply traumatized. 90% are out of school.

In the Middle East, a child is displaced, maimed or killed every single second. Gaza stands out. It has recorded more child deaths than any other conflict – 28 children a day, the size of a classroom gone… It has the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history. Thousands of children have lost their caregivers. Children are hardest hit by famine, many of them facing the impossible daily choice between gunfire or starvation. Life expectancy at birth declined by 35 years in 2024.

The COVID 19 pandemic seems far away, but its scars persist. The recovery from its profound impact on children’s lives is slow and demanding - rising economic uncertainty and high child poverty rates, school closures disrupting education and causing a sharp decline in academic skills, a worrying increase in mental health problems, reduced child support services, a surge in food prices leading to child’s severe food insecurity, often irreversible for the youngest children. For countless children, especially in low-income countries, there will not be a second chance…

Children are missing from the equation

Such a dire situation with cumulative risks for children calls for a deep sense of urgency. Unfortunately, the plight and the rights of children seem to be largely missing from the equation.

While their needs continue to grow, Official Development Assistance (ODA) is plummeting to worrying levels. In 2025 alone, ODA may fall 17%. Health funding may drop to 60%. Cuts to multilateral organizations – from UNICEF to WHO, WFP or UNHCR trigger a second wave of shrinking funds. The poorest countries will be hardest hit, many of them struggling to service their external debt with very scarce resources to invest in health and education. At the same time, human rights bodies are also impacted, with the Committee on the Rights of the Child having unable to meet and promote its crucial monitoring role.

Does this mean that our troubled world has limited resources? Two indicators blatantly deny this assertion. Military expenditure has reached historic levels and the steepest rise since World War II. In 2024 alone, there was a 9,4% increase. To put this in perspective, military spending is now over 100 times the amount needed for humanitarian assistance. Also in 2024, billionaire wealth grew three times faster than the year before. On average, each billionaire saw their fortune grow by $2 billion a day. In striking contrast, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990.

Accountability for children’s rights – until we succeed, never cease

In this daunting scenario, our role has become more important than ever. Accountability for children’s rights is serious. We need to make it work. There may be no blueprint, but there is a simple way to start. First, we must go back to the basics. Guided by the ethos of the Convention, we must relentlessly press for all decisions to be guided by the best interests of the child; the protection of each child from discrimination and abuse; firm investment to secure child survival and full development; genuine respect for the views of the child; allocation of all available resources to their maximum extent; child impact assessments on proposed legislative, policy or budgetary decisions; no derogation of children’s rights in times of political instability or financial crisis… We know it all! But what a difference this would make!

Second, we must be credible catalysts for change to overcoming ill perceptions, false assumptions, fake news... There is a strong foundation to build upon: the clarity, rigor and precision of international human rights standards; the evidence built over more than three decades of child rights implementation; and most importantly, the key to success: our unwavering commitment, alongside the knowledge and experience gained throughout the years.

Third, we need to keep reinforcing the child rights movement, strengthening partnerships and mobilizing people from all walks of life, including in small places where children’s human rights gain real meaning. Children are the most compelling reason for action and have become indispensable partners in this process. They may emerge from the depths of the worst nightmares, but they remain resilient, generous and forward-looking. They are not naïve about today’s problems but remain optimistic about the future: a future where children are the first line of investment, empowered to have a seat at the table and committed to achieving lasting change.

Over the past years, the world has gained unique knowledge and experience. Today, there is better understanding of the challenges that persist, as well as of the strategies that work best to overcome them. There is a sound normative roadmap to guide us and a steadfast determination to forge ahead. There is simply no excuse for inaction and no room for complacency.

As we know only too well, to accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream; not only plan but also believe. Inspired by the words of a Portuguese Poet:

“Whenever needed, let’s start again…

No rush, no anguish…

In all steps in that arduous journey towards the future,

Let’s move freely

Until we succeed

Never cease!

And never feel content with just half of a fruit.”