Children’s rights are human rights. They protect the child as a human being. As human rights, children’s rights are constituted by fundamental guarantees and essential human rights:
Children’s rights recognize fundamental guarantees to all human beings: the right to life, the non-discrimination principle, the right to dignity through the protection of physical and mental integrity (protection against slavery, torture and bad treatments, etc.)
Children’s rights are civil and political rights, such as the right to identity, the right to a nationality, etc.
Children’s rights are economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to education, the right to a decent standard of living, the right to health, etc.
Children’s rights include individual rights: the right to live with his or her parents, the right to education, the right to benefit from protection, etc.
Children’s rights include collective rights: rights of refugee and disabled children, of minority children or from autochthonous groups.
The recognition of the child’s interest and their rights became a reality on 20 November 1989 with the adoption of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child which is the first international legally binding text recognizing all the fundamental rights of the child.
