Children's Rights

Children's rights is, without a doubt, a fairly complex subject that has undergone a lot of changes in the last century. Adding to the complexity is the fact that children's rights concerns in much of the world are far different than those in the United States and other developed countries.

In the past, children's rights in America involved protecting children from abusive parents or dangerous and excessive labor. These issues have now been tackled by child labor laws and child abuse laws. Instead, a modern interpretation of children's rights in America might include issues like providing a stable family structure. While many people would agree that a happy household with sufficient income is the best environment for a child to grow up in, some groups take issue with the definition of a family itself. Organizations like Focus on the Family oppose same sex marriage and same sex couples who raise children together. They argue that children's rights includes the ability to be brought up by people in a Biblical marriage - that is, a marriage between a man and a woman. Other groups even oppose single parents raising a child, finding divorce to be in opposition to children's rights. Some states even prevent single parents from adopting a child.

Contemporary issues like the definition of a safe and stable family are not as much of a concern to organizations like UNICEF, who more often work to prevent or halt the practice of child slavery, child prostitution, and child pornography. Thus, they are firm supporters of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a result of a United Nations committee that addressed the rights of children. Besides working to stop the exploitation of children, groups like UNICEF also work to provide children with adequate medicine, including vaccinations, and nutrition. Poverty and malnutrition are major obstacles still for many children all around the world. A proper education is another globally sought after right for children.

Critics of children's rights characterize the movement as having little definition or direction. Though the United States was a major contributor and signatory to the Convention on the Rights of Children, it did not ratify it. This undermines the movement significantly, and the general inattention to this issue in Washington has prevented supporters from enacting their legislation. In this respect, animal rights laws are similar to children's rights laws.