FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Before the 20th century, children were expected to work in all kinds of jobs, disregarding that they were not adults both physically and spiritually, and child deaths, which could be prevented with a little nutrition and care, were considered normal at that time. The protection and development of the child was left only to the discretion of their families, not under the control of national or international institutions. Contrary to a national or universal responsibility, this situation became open to negligence and bad faith.
This situation was first expressed by Jules de Juene, a Belgian lawyer and professor in 1894, as the need for an international organization for the protection of children. Later, as a result of the developments that took place on the awareness of the need to protect children’s rights in other countries, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was prepared on September 26, 1924, which was also pioneered by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
However, due to the Second World War that broke out afterwards, the declaration was only prepared, and no actual benefit was realized. Although the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was prepared again within the framework of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” signed at the UN General Assembly in 1948, the desired result could not be achieved. Because the declarations are seen as a wish for the countries and do not create any legal responsibility in the event that the declaration is not complied with. Therefore, there was a need for a written agreement around the world that recognized the child’s fundamental rights and made a commitment to protect them. For this reason, in 1978, the issue of Children’s Rights was taken seriously and a very comprehensive convention was started to be prepared by some organs of the United Nations and many NGOs. It would not be wrong to describe this contract as the Magna Carta of children. The “Convention on the Rights of the Child”, the first convention on the Rights of Children, was adopted unanimously in the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1989. Today, 20 November is still celebrated as World Children’s Day.
So what was the difference between the contract and other declarations? Now, all the countries that signed this contract were committed to creating and regulating their own laws within the framework of this contract. The fact that countries will not include children’s rights in their legal systems despite their commitments will cause their responsibilities under international law to arise. The United States remained the only country in the world that did not sign the convention, with Somalia and South Sudan signing the convention most recently in 2015.
Turkey once again showed the value it attaches to the Rights of the Child, and signed the contract, which was opened for signature on January 26, 1990, on September 14, 1990.
SO WHAT RIGHTS DOES THE CONVENTION CONTAIN ABOUT CHILDREN?
The purpose of the Convention is to determine the fundamental rights of children and to ensure that each country adopts these rights in their own legal systems by identifying them with its own political, economic and cultural structure.
The Convention considers every person under the age of 18 as a child, except in the case of early age of majority according to the rules of domestic law. He states that among the persons to be considered children, they are all equal regardless of religion, language, race, gender, disability. However, among its basic principles is the Right to Live and Development; it stipulates that everyone, especially the states, should show the utmost care in order to fulfill this right.
In addition, the Best Interest of the Child should be considered as the first priority in every decision to be taken for the child. For this reason, the child’s views will always be valued. In addition to this, it is the responsibility of the states to establish all kinds of institutions, to activate the necessary services and to take all necessary measures so that the child can live in a healthy way, develop himself and be protected from all kinds of child abuse, especially child labor.
Fatih Can KESEMEN
Attorney at Law
