Children's NGOs

This article is based on an article written for the NGO Handbook by Kate Perchuk titled "Children's Rights and Nonprofit Advocacy."

Over the course of the 19th century, the principles of children’s rights have evolved from the intellectual concern of European social theorists to an international charter drafted by the United Nations and ratified by 191 governments. The participation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has been and continues to be essential to the effort of the world’s nations to uphold the standards articulated by the U.N.’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). NGO contributions to the global movement for children -- advocating for youth, monitoring compliance with the CRC, and coordinating aid and development programs -- have helped build a safer world for children.

Evolution of the Children’s NGO

Social reformers in the early 19th century were the first proponents of children’s rights. As early as 1853, when orphan asylums and almshouses were the only "social services" available for poor and homeless children, Charles Loring Brace founded the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) in New York. CAS services included aid to children, working women, needy families and disabled boys and girls. Creation of the U.S. Children’s Bureau in 1912 signaled the commitment of the United States Federal Government to systematic study and advocacy of children at the national level.

The first major international organization whose mandate was focused primarily on securing universal rights for children was the Save the Children Fund. Responding to the ravages of World War I, in April 1913, British philanthropist Eglantyne Jebb formed a pressure group , Fight the Famine Council, to persuade the British government to end the Allied blockade on the German and Austro-Hungarian economies. The success of the Fund led to the formation of Britain’s Save the Children Fund, and ultimately culminated in the International Save the Children Union (Union International de Secours a l'Enfant), which was founded in Geneva. In 1923, Jebb wrote the Children's Charter, which was subsequently adopted by the League of Nations as The Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959). This historic document laid the foundation for the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

By the 1920s, international organizations had been formed to facilitate development of international treaties in the field of child protection. Between 1919 and 1922, the International Labor Organization (ILO) developed three conventions, or treaties, regarding child protection: The ILO Convention Fixing the Minimum Age for Admission of Children to Industrial Employment (1919), the Convention Regarding the Night Work of Young Persons Employed in Industry (1919), and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children (1922). These were the first international treaties that expressly addressed the protection of children.

While international standards protecting the rights of children in the workplace were being set, nongovernmental organizations were emerging to specifically advocate on behalf of children. In 1937, in an effort to aid the millions of families and children displaced by the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), J. Calvitt Clarke, a Presbyterian minister, founded China’s Children Fund (CCF, which would in 1951 become Christian Children’s Fund).

With the creation of the United Nations in 1945, substantial resources and political support were leveraged on behalf of children, not only by individual world governments, but also by U.N. agencies such as UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and many other nongovernmental organizations (e.g. International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, CCF). With broad-based international support, the United Nations and its constituent agencies worked systematically to provide for the needs of children.

Children’s rights as international law

The special rights of the child were first articulated by the United Nations General Assembly in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which provided that "Motherhood and Childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.” But it was not until 30 years later that the first legally binding international treaty to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights—was drafted.

The International Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1989 when the largest gathering of world leaders ever assembled convened at the United Nations for the first World Summit for Children. It was at this historic conference that the CRC was ratified by 191 countries (all but the United States and Somalia ) in an effort to ensure the health and security of the world’s children by working to reduce child and maternal mortality rates, preventable diseases, illiteracy and malnutrition; and recognizing the need for children’s universal access to basic education, safe drinking water, healthy food, sanitary conditions and protection from abuse, violence and war. The Convention was comprised of 10 declarations, and the first was the encouragement of programs and information dedicated to the welfare and rights of children.

Unlike any other international treaty, the Convention sets out a unique monitoring and reporting role for a United Nations body (i.e. UNICEF) and NGOs. Article 45 states that UNICEF and other “competent bodies” can be invited by the Committee to give “expert advice” and information. The production of NGO reports for presentation to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) brought new demands to gather, analyze and disseminate information about the situation of children and their rights as well as the need to exchange experiences at the national and international level.

With the growth of the children’s NGO community came a need for information-sharing resources. To answer the call, Save the Children created The Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) in 1998. CRIN is a global network that disseminates information about the Convention on the Rights of the Child and child rights among NGOs, U.N. agencies, intergovernmental organization (IGOs), educational institutions and other child rights experts. The Coordinating Unit is based in London, UK. The network is supported, and receives funding from Save the Children Sweden, Save the Children UK, UNICEF, Plan International, and the International Save the Children Alliance. CRIN has a membership of more than 1,400 organizations in over 130 countries. About 85 percent of members are NGOs; and 65 percent are in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Formed in early 2000, the Child Rights Caucus is a group of more than 100 national and international NGOs from around the world committed to protecting and promoting the human rights of children. The Caucus served as a lobby group pressing for a strong rights-based focus to the 2000 Special Session on Children and its outcome document (A World Fit for Children) Since 2000, it has prepared several versions of an alternative outcome document called, 'A Children's Rights Agenda for the Coming Decade.'

The Committee on the Rights of the Child, the monitoring body created in the Convention, established a systematic process for gathering and responding to reports from U.N. member states concerning progress toward meeting the standards set forth in the Convention. In May 2002, to review progress since the 1990 Summit and re-energize global commitment to children's rights, more than 7,000 people participated (including 3,600 children’s NGOs) in the most important international conference on children in more than a decade, the Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly on Children. The 2002 Special Session was the first of its kind devoted exclusively to children and the first to include them as official delegates.

NGOs take leading role

The participation of NGOs in the Special Session was unprecedented in a number of ways. First, in record attendance for a child rights event, more than 1,700 NGO representatives from 117 countries and from 700 NGOs took part. This was a vast improvement over the number of NGOs attending previous international children’s rights conferences -- and went far beyond all expectations. Second, the NGO contingent included not only those accredited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), as is customary at UN conferences, but also representatives of NGOs who are partners of UNICEF at the global and national level . An impressive 699 NGOs from 117 countries were represented at the Session; 314 from developing countries and 385 from industrialized nations. Also significant was the involvement of 248 children and young people who served as NGO delegates to the Children's Forum and the Special Session.

Addressing NGOs at their plenary session, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, "You non-governmental organizations give life and meaning to the concept of 'We, the Peoples', in whose name our United Nations Charter was written." Noting that children's participation is key to the work of NGOs and other advocates for children, he added, "If we are to live up to the title of the outcome document and build 'A World Fit for Children', we must also build it with children.".

NGO views strongly influenced the outcome document, “A World Fit for Children,” which was carefully crafted to take account of the contributions of NGOs at the national, regional and international levels. Two themes dominated the statements given by 15 NGOs in the official proceedings -- the key role of child rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the follow-up action to the Special Session, and the daily, pervasive and crushing impact of violence on the lives of children.

In addition to organizing their own supporting events, NGOs participated actively in events organized by UN agencies, governments and other constituencies. NGOs also coalesced by regions and around specific issues, including the rights of girls, early childhood development and education, HIV/AIDS, child and youth participation, and children in armed conflict.

Building on the momentum of the 2002 Special Session, the Global Movement for Children (GMC) was formally established as more that 94 million people voted in the “Say Yes for Children” ) campaign on actions to improve the lives of the world’s children. The purpose of naming the Global Movement for Children was to help make visible to the world’s leaders the thousands of organizations and millions of citizens, voters -- and children themselves -- who are today united in this cause. As espoused by the GMC: The name, logo and principles of the Global Movement are offered to all who stand for the rights of children, as means of displaying solidarity and as a banner under which to rally. Ten child rights organizations and networks are currently working together on a number of common initiatives in support of and as part of the Global Movement for Children. These are BRAC (formerly known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, a multifaceted development organization with the twin objectives of alleviation of poverty and empowerment of the poor), CARE, ENDA (an association of autonomous entities coordinated by an Executive Secretariat based in Dakar, Senegal), Latin American and Caribbean Network for Children, NetAid, Oxfam, Plan, Save the Children, UNICEF, World Vision, and the Alliance of Youth CEOs.

As articulated by UNICEF: “The challenges facing children exceed the capacity of any single organization – by far. Building a world that is fit for children requires the partnership of every individual and every organization sharing the values of the United Nations and a respect for children's rights. This includes eminent and ordinary individuals, civil society organizations, voluntary agencies, philanthropic foundations, trade unions, faith-based organizations, academic and research institutions -- and, of course, children and young people themselves.” NGOs that advocate for children’s rights and protection play an important role in the progress of social development in both rich and poor nations by encouraging government resolve and inspiring the collective conscience to come to the aid of a world of children facing momentous challenges, including destitution and poverty, unstable political situations, and ethnic strife. As local, national and international NGOs help nations meet and sustain their development objectives they also lead the fight for human rights, equality, freedom, and social justice.

Select Bibliography

Edmonds, Beverly and William R. Fernekes, Children’s Rights: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO, 1996.

Fernekes, William R. The Convention on the Rights of the Child”. Trends and Issues: The Quarterly Publication of the Florida Council for the Social Studies XIII (3), Fall 2001: 5-8.

Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Youth Report 2005.

Children’s Human Rights Caucus: At the 58th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, 18 March – 26 April 2002, CRIN.

NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Networking for Children’s Rights: A Guide for NGOs, CRIN.

Building a World Fit for Children, United Nations Special Session on Children, May 2002.

Patricia Moccia, Editor-in-Chief; David Anthony, Editor; Chris Brazier, Principal Writer; Hirut Gebre-Egziabher; Paulina Gruszczynski; Tamar Hahn; Annalisa Orlandi; Meredith Slopen. State of the World’s Children 2006, UNICEF.

Asamoah, Yvonne. NGOs, Social Development and Sustainability, September 2003.