Content

Human rights

Children in Namibia. Copyright: Photothek.net, Köhler

Realising children's rights –
Safeguarding the future

Background: Children are our future

Children are our future - that is especially true in developing countries, where in many cases 50 to 70 per cent of the total population is below the age of 25. All a country's hopes are then pinned on children and young people. It is up to them to ensure that their societies undergo the desperately needed social and political change. But extreme poverty, armed conflicts, AIDS and bad governance rob millions of children of their human rights and opportunities in life.


International agreements for the protection of children

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 the UN stressed that children have a right to "special care and assistance". Basic children's rights are enshrined in the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - and are thus binding under international law. At international level the Convention is the point of reference when it comes to children's legal right to decent development opportunities. In addition, children's rights have now been incorporated into numerous other international agreements and declarations.


What Germany ist doing:
Working together to create a world fit for children

Germany has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and basic international human rights treaties and has thus undertaken to realise children’s rights. In early 2008 the BMZ updated its Development Policy Action Plan for Human Rights for the period 2008 to 2010 in order to continue and intensify the systematic mainstreaming of human rights in German development policy. The first Action Plan covered the period 2004 to 2007. Specific measures in the Plan include promoting the implementation of international conventions and agreements to strengthen the rights of children.


Further information

The following list contains a selection of links to documents and websites with further information on children's rights.



Service-Links & Content-List

BMZ glossary
Close window