Overviews and Factsheets

Child Protection - The Big Picture
A brief overview of issues relating to the well-being and protection of children, including forced and bonded labor, trafficking, sexual exploitation, armed conflict, and violence against children.  R
UNICEF

Child Protection: Armed conflict
In the last decade, more than 2 million children have died as a direct result of armed conflict; 20 million have been forced to flee their homes; 6 million have been serious injured or permanently disabled; and 1 million have been orphaned. 300,000 children are involved in conflicts as child soldiers.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Birth registration
Some 50 million births go unregistered every year – over 30 per cent of all estimated births worldwide. Apart from being the first legal acknowledgement of a child's existence, registration of births is fundamental to the realization of a child's rights and practical needs.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Child labor
An estimated 246 million children are engaged in child labour. Of those, almost three-quarters (171 million) work in hazardous situations or conditions.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Discrimination
Discrimination is a daily reality for millions of the world’s children. Forms of discrimination include: gender, disability, ethnicity, caste (social class), HIV/AIDS, and birth status.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Early marriage
Early marriage can have serious harmful consequences for children, including: denial of education, health problems, and abuse.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Female genital mutilation
Estimates of the total number of women living today who have been subjected to FGM/C in Africa range between 100 and 130 million.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Juvenile justice
More than 1 million children world-wide are deprived of their liberty by law enforcement officials.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Orphans and vulnerable children
Orphans and vulnerable children are deprived of their first line of protection – their parents. This is a brief overview of the world's orphans.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Trafficking and sexual exploitation
Some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year. This is a brief overview of child trafficking and sexual exploitation.
UNICEF

Child Protection: Violence
An estimated 40 million children below the age of 15 suffer from abuse and neglect. Most often the violence does not even leave visible marks. Yet it is one of the most serious problems affecting children today.
UNICEF

Children's Rights
An in-depth overview of children's rights, including child labor, child soldiers, refugee children, juvenile justice, and violence against children.  R
Human Rights Watch

Children's Rights - Brief Introduction
Children around the world suffer appalling abuses. In the past, this huge and largely voiceless population has fallen through the cracks in the international human rights arena. This is a brief introduction to children's human rights issues.  R
Human Rights Watch

Convention on the Rights of the Child - An Introduction
An introduction to the Convention - the most universally accepted human rights instrument in history.
UNICEF

Convention on the Rights of the Child - Frequently Asked Questions
UNICEF

Convention on the Rights of the Child - Overview
An overview of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  R
UNICEF

Introduction to Children's Rights
A brief introduction to children's human rights, from "Promises Broken", a HRW report assessing children's rights on the 10th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  R
Human Rights Watch

The World of Children at a Glance
Life remains desperate for millions of the world's youngest citizens, including 25 million children currently uprooted from their homes. A factsheet on the world's children, with a focus on refugee children.  R
UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees)

What Every Government Must Do - 11 Steps to Protect Children's Rights
AI calls on governments to take these 11 steps to protect children at risk of human rights abuses in custody, in the community and in situations of armed conflict.  R
Amnesty International

Convention on the Rights of the Child - Setbacks and Successes
 R UNICEF

Convention on the Rights of the Child - Why make a special case for children?
The world community in the earliest declarations of human rights recognized the priority that should be accorded to protecting children's rights. Of course, governments must be sensitive to the rights of all their citizens – not just to those of children. But there are strong reasons for making a special case for children's rights  R
UNICEF

A World Fit for Children - The Official Outcome Document of the UN Special Session on Children (2002)
The Special Session in 2002 culminated in the official adoption, by some 180 nations, of its outcome document, 'A World Fit for Children'. The new agenda for - and with - the world's children, including 21 specific goals and targets for the next decade.
UNICEF

A World Fit for Children - UNICEF booklet
The documents in this small book — the Millennium Development Goals, documents of the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child — constitute an essential guidebook for all those working to improve the lives of children and young people.
UNICEF

Amnesty International Children's Action 1999 Report
Report on children's rights from Amnesty International's 1999 campaign on children.
Amnesty International

Children's Human Rights: The Future Starts Here
A publication issued on the 50th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, outlines Amnesty International's key concerns and recommendations on children's human rights.
Amnesty International USA

Children's Rights: A second chance
The past decade began with genuine optimism for the world's children. But what has happened since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)? This report looks at the impact that local, national and international policies and practices have had on children over the last decade.
Save the Children

Easy Targets: Violence Against Children Worldwide
Violence against children is a bigger problem than governments acknowledge, and in fact is often carried out by officials of the state, according to this report. The study draws on investigations in twenty countries, which included hundreds of interviews with children subjected to violence or abuse.
Human Rights Watch

Listen to Us - an International Commentary by Children and Young People on 'A World Fit for Children'
Over 1,000 children and young people from Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia participated in the consultation for the United Nations' Special Session on Children (2002) and sent in their views on the official outcomes documents.
CRIN (Child Rights Information Network)

Profiting from Abuse: An investigation into the sexual exploitation of our children
This report is a tribute to the courage of the many children who have been affected by inhuman commercial sexual exploitation. It presents the moving words of the children themselves, as well as the passionate and informed opinions of distinguished personalities and authorities.
UNICEF, 2001

Promises Broken
An assessment of children's rights on the 10th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report illustrate the troubling extent to which the international community has failed children.
Human Rights Watch

State of the World's Children 2004 - Girls' Education
The 2004 edition of the annual report on the world's children focuses on girls’ education as one of the most crucial issues facing the development community today. The report is a testimony to the prevailing gender disparities and to the toll girls’ exclusion from school takes on them, their families, communities and countries.
UNICEF

The Progress of Nations 1998
This annual report ranks countries, not by the traditional yardstick of economic growth, but by the well-being of their children. The 1998 edition looks at children's rights, emphazing the right to be registered at birth and hence to qualify for education, health and other social services. It also charts child immunization progress, focuses on the vulnerabilities of adolescence in developing countries and outlines the issue of homelessness in the richest nations.
UNICEF

The Progress of Nations 2000
This annual report ranks countries, not by the traditional yardstick of economic growth, but by the well-being of their children. It describes the gains that are possible when nations invest in children's well being and protect their rights.
UNICEF

The State of the World's Children 2002 - Leadership
SOWC 2002 is about the leadership that was needed to turn commitments made at the 1990 World Summit for Children into actions that improved the lives of children and families. It is also about the leadership that is necessary now and into the future in order to ensure the right of every child to live in peace, health and dignity.
UNICEF

The State of the World's Children 2003 - Child Participation
The State of the World’s Children 2003 reports on child participation — the ‘right’ of all children to have their opinions taken into account when decisions are being made that affect them. The report showcases examples of meaningful child participation from every region of the world. With photos and artwork by children.
UNICEF

UN Chronicle: Issue on Children's Rights
"A world fit for children." This issue of the United Nations' magazine focuses on children's rights.
UN Chronicle, Issue 2, 2002

We the Children: Meeting the promises of the World Summit for Children
A landmark report issued by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The report assesses the progress made in meeting the commitments made to the children around the globe at the 1990 World Summit for Children. It also includes best practices and lessons learned, obstacles to progress, and a plan of action for building a world fit for children.
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General (Special Report)

Convention on the Rights of the Child - Questions Parents Ask
UNICEF

Convention on the Rights of the Child - The Process: From Signature to Ratification
An overview of the Convention's ratification and accession process.
UNICEF

Convention on the Rights of the Child - Unofficial Summary
Unofficial Summary of Main Provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  R
UNICEF and International Catholic Child Bureau (ICCB)

The World Summit for Children (1990) - Introduction
An introduction to the 1990 World Summit for Children.
UNICEF

UN Secretary-General Annan's Plea for World's Children
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused adults worldwide of failing children, forcing far too many to grow up in poverty or threatened by war.  R
BBC, 8 May, 2002