6.10 Global Human Rights Issues

6.10 Global Human Rights Issues

Countries all over the world are facing human rights issues as legacies of globalization. In many democratic countries, desperation for economic success has lead to denial of human rights. Children may be forced to do backbreaking labour to provide income for the family. Women are forced into prostitution to survive. Other people turn to crime, selling bootleg goods or even their own body parts to live. 

Global Youth Human Rights Issues

Should young people have the same human rights as adults? Should they have greater rights? Children have different needs than adults and have fewer powers and abilities to ensure their own rights are protected. They cannot vote, they generally have far less money than adults, and because of their developing physical, mental, and emotional abilities, they are vulnerable to exploitation. In some nations, children are recruited as soldiers, or sold into prostitution, or forced to do dangerous work for little or no pay. These activities limit their ability to grow and develop into fully functioning adults.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to establish full rights specifically for children. Prior to the establishment of this convention, children were considered to be either possessions of their parents or the state, with no real rights of their own. In 1989, world leaders decided that children, defined as those under eighteen, needed special care and protection.

Young girls transfer cotton yarn to bobbins used in hand looms
Kenneth Macleish/National Geographic Stock

Children carry buckets of wet concrete at a construction site
J Baylor Roberts/National Geographic Stock

In the convention, fifty-four articles and two optional protocols spell out basic human rights for children everywhere. The optional protocols deal with child soldiers and child pornography and/or prostitution. The four core principals include

1. non-discrimination

2. devotion to the best interests of the child

3. right to life, survival, and development

4. respect for the views of the child

By agreeing to respect the obligations of the convention, the countries of the world have promised to protect children's rights and act in the best interests of the child. They periodically report to the United Nations on the progress they have made in protecting the rights of children.

At present, 196 nations have signed the treaty and ratified this convention, some with stated reservations. Canada ratified it in 1991. The only world power not ratifying the convention is the United States, whose government believes it erodes parental authority.