COMPILATION OF INTERNATIONAL NORMS
AND STANDARDS RELATING TO DISABILITY
Part V. Rights of Vulnerable Groups. 2/11   
1. Rights of the Child
One of the most vulnerable groups among persons with disabilities are children. They
are more vulnerable to wars, exploitation, malnutrition, physical and psychological
ill-treatment, trafficking etc. The human rights mechanisms have taken a significant
interest in the protection of disabled children.
1.1 General International Instruments Pertaining to the Rights of
the Child
The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides in its Article2
that States parties must respect the rights in the Convention "...without
discrimination of any kind, irrespective of (...) sex (...) or any other status"
(emphasis added). This anti-discrimination clause, therefore, applies to female children
with disabilities. Article 19 (1) states that the child shall be protected from
"...all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent
treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse...." Article 23 (1)
provides that "States Parties recognise that a mentally or physically disabled child
should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote
self-reliance and facilitate the child's active participation in the community." This
obviously applies to female as well as male children. Article 23 (2) concerns the right of
the disabled child to special care. Article 23 (3) provides that assistance to the child
and those responsible for his or her care "...shall be designed to ensure that the
disabled child has effective access to and receives education, training, health care
services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities
in a manner conductive to the child's achieving the fullest possible social integration
and individual development...". Services for disabled children should, wherever
possible, be provided free of charge. Article 23 (4) provides that the States Parties
shall promote...the exchange of appropriate information in the field or preventative
health care and of medical, physiological and functional treatment of disabled
children...." Article 24 (2) (d) of the Convention requires States to ensure the
appropriate prenatal and post-natal health care for mothers.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 25 (2)
that "...motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All
children whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection."
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights state in
Article 24 (1) that , "Every child shall have, without anydiscrimination as to race,
colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right
to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of
his family, society and the State...".
The Article 10 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights states that "...special protection should be accorded to mothers
during a reasonable period before and after childbirth...Special measures of protection
and assistance should be taken on behalf of all children and young persons without any
discrimination for reasons of parentage or other conditions. Children and young persons
should be protected from economic and social exploitation. Their employment in work
harmful to their morals or health or dangerous to life or likely to hamper their normal
development should be punishable by law. States should also set age limitsbelow which the
paid employment of child labour should be prohibited and punishable by law."
The Section II paragraph 21 of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
urges States to ratify and implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In
addition, in all actions concerning children, non-discrimination and the best interests of
the child should be primary considerations.
The Protocol II Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and
Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts states
in Part II, Article 4 (3) (a) that children "...shall receive an education, including
religious and moral education, in keeping with the wishes of their parents, or in the
absence of parents, of those responsible for their care." Article 4 (3) (b) states
that all appropriate steps shall be taken to facilitate the reunion of families
temporarily separated. Article 4 (3) (c) provides that "...children who have not
attained the age of fifteen years shall neither be recruited in the armed forces or groups
nor allowed to take part in hostilities." Furthermore, Article 4 (3) (d) states:
"...measures shall be taken, if necessary, and whenever possible with the
consent of their parents or persons who by law or custom are primarily responsible for
their care, to remove children temporarily from the area in which hostilities are taking
place to a safer area within the country and ensure that they are accompanied by persons
responsible for their safety and well-being."
1.2 General Regional Instruments Pertaining to the Rights of the
Child
The European Social Charter states in Article 7 that, " right of
children and young persons to protection:
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of children and young
persons to protection, the contracting parties undertake," the following:
1. To provide that the minimum age of admission to employment shall be 15 years,
subject to exceptions for children employed in prescribed light work without harm to their
health, morals and education;
2. To provide that a higher minimum age of admission to employment shall be fixed with
respect to prescribed occupations regarded as dangerous or unhealthy;
3. To provide that persons who are still subject to compulsory education shall not be
employed in such work as would deprive them of the full benefit of their education;
4. To provide that the working hours of persons under 16 years of age shall be limited in
accordance with the needs of their development, and particularly with their need for
vocational training;
(...)
9. To provide that persons under 18 years of age employed in occupations prescribed by
national laws or regulations shall be subject to regular medical control;
10.To ensure special protection against physical and moral dangers to which children and
young persons are exposed, and particularly against those resulting directly or indirectly
from their work."
Article 17 obliges the States Parties to take measures to provide economic and social
protection for children:
"The right of mothers and children to social and economic protection: With a view
to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of mothers and children to social and
economic protection, the Contracting Parties will take all appropriate and necessary
measures to that end, including the establishment or maintenance of appropriate
institutions or services."
Though there were no fundamental changes in the Revised Form of the European
Social Charter, in article 7 the age limit goes up from 16 to 18 years of age and
states:
"The right of children and young persons to social, legal and economic protection:
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of children and young persons
to grow up in an environment which encourages the full development of their personality
and of their physical and mental capacities, the Parties undertake, either directly or in
Cupertino with public and private organizations, to take all appropriate and necessary
measures designed:
- a) To ensure that children and young persons, taking account of the rights and duties of
their parents, have the care, the assistance, the education and the training they need, in
particular by providing for the establishment or maintenance of institutions and services
sufficient and adequate for this purpose;
b) To protect children and young persons against negligence, violence or exploitation;
c) To provide protection and special aid from the state for children and young persons
temporarily or definitively deprived of their family's support and
- To provide to children and young persons a free primary and secondary education as well
as to encourage regular attendance at schools."
Article 19 of the American Convention on Human Rights provides that,
45;Every minor children with a right to protection: "Every minor child has the right
to measures of protection required by his condition as a minor on the part of his family,
society, and the state."
The Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Field
of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights proclaimed in Article 15 (3) (b) and
(d), States undertake to guarantee adequate nutrition for children and to help create an
environment in which children receive and develop the values of understanding, solidarity,
respect and responsibility. Article 16 outlines a comprehensive set of rights for
children including the right to special protection, the right for the young child, save in
exceptional circumstances, not to be separated from his mother, the right for children to
remain under the protection of their parents, and the right to free and compulsory
education.
Article 18 (3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
provides: "The State shall ensure the elimination of every discrimination against
women and also censure the protection of the rights of the woman and the child as
stipulated in international declarations and conventions...".
1.4 Instruments Specifically Relating to Disabled Children
The Convention of the Rights of the Child is the most complete
statement of children's rights and is the first to give these rights the force of
international law. A child is defined in the Convention as a person under the age of 18,
unless national laws mandate an earlier age of majority.
Moreover, this Convention is the first international treaty, which recognises the rights
of disabled children.
The most important article for the protection of disabled children is article 23 (1)
which states that "States Parties recognise that a mentally or physically disabled
child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote
self-reliance and facilitate the child's active participation in the community."
Article 23 (2) provides: "States Parties recognise the right of the disabled
children to special care and shall encourage and ensure the extension, subject to
available resources, to the eligible child and those responsible for his or her care, of
assistance for which application is made and which is appropriate to the child's
condition, and to the circumstances of the parents or others caring for the child."
Article 23 (3) provides that "...assistance shall be provided free of charge,
whenever possible, taking into account the financial resources of the parents or others
caring for the child. Assistance shall be designed to ensure that the disabled child has
effective access to and receives education, training, health, care services,
rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a
manner conducive to the child's achievement the fullest possible social integration and
individual development, including his or her cultural and spiritual development."
And further on: "States parties shall promote, in the spirit of international
co-operation, the exchange of appropriate information in the field of preventive health
care and of medical, psychological and functional treatment of disabled children,
including dissemination of and access to information concerning methods of rehabilitation,
education and vocational services, with the aim of enabling States Parties to improve
their capabilities and skills and to widen their experience in these areas. In this
regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries".
Other articles in this convention too relate to the protection of disabled children.
These include:
a) article 24 (the child is entitled to the highest
attainable standard of health),
b) article 32 (States shall protect the child from economic
exploitation and work that may interfere with education or be harmful to health and
well-being) and
c) article 19 (States shall protect children from physical
or mental harm and neglect, including sexual abuse or exploitation).
The European Convention on the Exercise of Children's Rights aims to
promote the rights and best interests of children and to give the children the opportunity
to exercise their rights. This Convention applies to disabled children, as article 1
states that "...this Convention shall apply to all children who have not reached the
age of 18 years...".
The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child has a very
comprehensive approach regarding the protection of disabled children. Indeed, article 13
refers to handicapped children:
"Every child who is mentally or physically disabled shall have the right to
special measures of protection in keeping with his physical and moral needs and under
conditions which ensure his dignity, promote his self-reliance and active participation in
the community."
States Parties to the present Charter shall ensure, subject to available resources, to
a disabled child and to those responsible for his care, of assistance for which
application is made and which is appropriate to the child's condition and in particular
shall ensure that the disabled child has effective access to training, preparation for
employment and recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the child achieving the
fullest possible social integration, individual development and his cultural and moral
development.
The States Parties to the present Charter shall use their available resources with a
view to achieving progressively the full convenience of the mentally and physically
disabled person to movement and access to public highway buildings and other places to
which the disabled may legitimately want to have access to."
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