Logo UNICEF Innocenti
Office of Research-Innocenti
menu icon

GLOSSARY

logo

Best interests of the child

     IRC site

CRC Article = 3(1)
Note:
Article 3(1) of the CRC obligates States Parties to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies. Article 3(1) contains a principle of interpretation which has to be considered in all actions concerning children. It therefore operates as a principle to be considered in relation to the implementation of each of the rights set forth the CRC and, residually, to all actions concerning children. Important to note is that Article 21 of the CRC provides that the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration in adoption.

See also:
Discrimination   Evolving capacities of the child   Respect for the views of the child   

Birth

     IRC site

Birth registration

     IRC site

CRC Article = 7(1)
Note:
The right of the child to be registered immediately after birth is set forth in Article 7(1) of the CRC. The purpose of this right is to promote recognition and protection of the child's legal personality. Registration of birth is regarded as one of the most effective methods of protecting the child's identity. It can reduce the danger of abduction, sale of or traffic in children, and can facilitate the tracing of the parents or other family members of unaccompanied refugee children. Birth registration of refugee children born in host States is also of importance because it enables date and place of birth to be conclusively established, thereby activating certain rights, including those rights which are dependent upon nationality and personal status.

See also:
Name   Preservation of identity   

Bonded labour

     IRC site

Note:
Debt bondage or bonded labour is an abuse analogous to slavery in which individuals are pledged to work either for a money lender or a landlord to repay a debt or loan. It applies to children who work either for a money lender or for a landowner as bonded labourers to pay off the debts of family members. Article 32 of the CRC dealing with protection against economic exploitation can be invoked. Bonded labour or debt bondage is defined by Article 1(a) of the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (1956) as "the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined."

See also:
Child labour   Economic exploitation   Exploitation   Slavery   

Breast-feeding

     IRC site

CRC Article = 24(2)(e)
Note:
For the implementation of the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to health services, States Parties are required to ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of the advantages of breast-feeding.

See also:
Child health and nutrition   Health and health services   Health education   Malnutrition