Children's Rights

Millions of children have no access to education, work long hours under hazardous conditions and are forced to serve as soldiers in armed conflict. They suffer targeted attacks on their schools and teachers or languish in institutions or detention centers, where they endure inhumane conditions and assaults on their dignity. Young and immature, they are often easily exploited. In many cases, they are abused by the very individuals responsible for their care. We are working to help protect children around the world, so they can grow into adults.




Child Labor
Over 100 million children around the world work in hazardous conditions in agriculture, mining, domestic labor, and other sectors. On tobacco farms, children work long hours in extreme heat, exposed to nicotine and toxic pesticides that can make them sick. In Africa, Asia, and Latin America, child laborers in artisanal and small-scale gold mines work underground in pits that easily collapse and use toxic mercury to process the gold, risking brain damage and other serious health conditions. We are working to end the worst forms of child labor and to ensure that all children are protected from jobs that interfere with their health, safety, and education.




Child Soldiers
Thousands of children are serving as soldiers in armed conflicts around the world. These boys and girls, some as young as 8 years old, serve in government forces and armed opposition groups. They may fight on the front lines, participate in suicide missions, and act as spies, messengers, or lookouts. Girls may be forced into sexual slavery. Many are abducted or recruited by force, while others join out of desperation, believing that armed groups offer their best chance for survival. We are working to prevent the use of child soldiers and to hold accountable the people who send children to fight




Education
More than 100 million children are out of school worldwide. Discrimination of marginalized groups by teachers and other students, long distances to school, formal and informal school fees, and the absence of inclusive education are among the main causes. Millions stop going to school to work long hours, often under hazardous conditions. Others experience violence or abuse from teachers or fellow students, or find their schools targets of armed attack. Families do not send girls to school, force them out of school to marry or girls are denied an education when they become pregnant. Many are kept from getting a secondary education because they cannot afford school fees. Even when in school, millions of children receive a poor quality education that leaves them lacking essential skills and knowledge




Education and Conflict
Attacks on education occur around the world, both inside and outside of situations of armed conflict. In many regions, armed groups intentionally target schools, teachers, and students. These attacks violate the rights of the child: in addition to putting children at risk of injury or death, they can thwart students' chance to get an education. Attacks on schools, teachers, and students can cause children to drop out or go to school less often, force schools to cut their hours, and destroy school buildings and materials. In environments of violence and fear, the quality of children's education is severely diminished. Human Rights Watch defines "attacks on education" as encompassing the full range of violations that place children at risk and deny them access to education. This includes attacks on school infrastructure and on teachers and students; the occupation of schools by the police and military; harassment and threats against teachers, parents, and students; and the recruitment of children from schools to become soldiers. Human Rights Watch calls on states to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, an international commitment to protect schools and universities from being attacked or used for military purposes in times of armed conflict




Juvenile Justice
Children around the world who are arrested and detained for alleged wrongdoing are often not given the protections they are entitled under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In many countries, children are charged and sentenced for acts that should not be crimes—such as truancy or misbehavior at home. Some states set a minimum age of criminal responsibility lower than the internationally acceptable age of 12. Some states also treat certain children, especially older adolescents or children who are accused of particularly serious crimes, as if they were adults during their trial and sentencing. Sentences of death, life without parole, and corporal punishment are still handed down in some countries, in violation of international law. The international prohibition on detaining children with adults is also often violated.




Refugees and Migrants
All too often, the thousands of unaccompanied children arriving in foreign lands without parents or caregivers find themselves trapped in their status as migrants, with officials giving little consideration to their vulnerabilities and needs as children. They may be denied access to adequate medical services and education, abused and mistreated by police, guards, and other detainees, and unable to seek asylum. They may languish in jail-like detention facilities, in conditions that are often degrading and inhumane, and many children are held in cells with adults who are strangers. Children held in detention, particularly for long periods with no release in sight, suffer lasting consequences, physically and mentally. Detention can create new traumas or exacerbate previous ones.