Children's Rights and the Human Rights Program

Key Human Rights Treaties

· Convention on the Rights of the Child
· Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
· Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
· International Labor Organization Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention
· Declaration of the Rights of the Child

HRP uses human rights standards and strategies to complement existing ACLU legal and legislative advocacy and to advance social justice in the area of children’s rights.

Children are especially vulnerable members of society, and human rights treaties reflect this real­ity.

The United States has had a critical role in drafting international treaties and language regarding the rights of children; however it continues to allow ongoing abuse against its own children. The United States should uphold all children’s right to conditions that provide them with freedom and digni­ty—and should substantiate its historic commitment to human rights and regain its position as a worldwide leader as a protector of children’s rights by ratify­ing treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

HRP works to promote and protect the rights of children, with particular attention to juvenile justice, equal access to quality education (including the prohibition of corporal punishment) by:

· pushing the United States to ratify human rights treaties;

· incorporating human rights standards in litigation and state and federal legislative advocacy; and

· engaging with the United States before U.N. and regional human rights fora.