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Rights
UNCROC: an Overview
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) is history’s most ratified human rights treaty, and one of the United Nations’ core human rights instruments. The Ministry of Youth Development coordinates New Zealand's UNCROC activity and its reporting to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
 UNCROC
is about protecting children and young people. It is also about making
sure that the voices of children and young people are heard in all
matters affecting them.
The rights set out in UNCROC apply to those aged 17 years and below.
UNCROC is comprised of 54 articles of different kinds that set out a range of human rights standards for the
treatment of children and young people.
Four of the articles constitute the general principles that underpin the Convention. These are:
- all children have the right to protection from discrimination on any grounds
- the best interests of the child should be the primary consideration in all matters affecting the child
- children have the rights to life, survival and development
- all children have the right to an opinion and for that opinion to be heard in all contexts.
To view a summary of the rights and principals of the Convention, see the related documents section at the bottom of the page.
There are also two Optional Protocols to UNCROC: the Optional Protocol
on the sale of children child prostitution and pornography, which New
Zealand has signed but not yet ratified, and the Optional Protocol to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of
children in armed conflict, which New Zealand ratitifed in 2001.
See also:
• United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
• UNCROC in New Zealand
• UNCROC five year programme
• Progress on the UNCROC work programme
• The 2006 UNCROC forum:taking stock of progress
• UNCROC: Additional monitoring and reporting
• A World Fit for Children
You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to download the PDF file below.
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