What is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child?
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) is an international agreement. It is the first legally binding code of children’s rights in history. The Convention is sometimes referred to as The Children’s Charter. The Convention applies to all children and young people up to the age of 18 years old (the language of the Convention refers to “child or children,” but this is meant to refer to young people as well). New Zealand was the 131st country to sign the Convention and agree to be bound by its principles.

New Zealand ratified the Convention on 13 March 1993. This means the New Zealand Government now has to make sure that all our laws meet the minimum standards set out in the Convention. New Zealand made three reservations about parts of the Convention. This means there are parts of the Convention that the New Zealand Government did not agree to comply with. The reservations are about the rights of children who are not New Zealand citizens or residents, protection of children in employment, and mixing child prisoners with adult prisoners. There is a lot of pressure on the NZ Government to change its position in relation to these reservations.
The Government must report at regular intervals on how well it’s implementing the standards set by the Convention to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Committee then issues a report advising the Government how it can improve implementation. In New Zealand the Convention is printed in our two official languages - English and Maori.



What does the Convention do?

The Convention sets out the rights children and young people can expect from their parents, their school, their Government and their society in general.
There are 54 statements (called Articles) in the Convention covering four broad areas. These areas are survival rights, development rights, protection rights and participation rights.