On Children's Rights In Legal Protection

Children are the hope and future of human. Protection of children's rights is a significant part of the whole enterprise of human rights. From the point of view of international human rights law, the author reviews the developing history of children's rights and divides it into three stages. The first stage is the internationalization of children's rights. After the Second World War, human rights protection moved from the field of domestic law into the field of international law, and the internationalization of human rights is the unchangeable trend of human rights' developing history. Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Human Rights Charter stipulated the protection of children's rights. The second stage is the appearance of children's rights declarations. Children's Rights Declaration (1959) put forward ten principles of children's rights protection so as to provide children with a happy childhood. The declaration has greatly influenced the world, however it is difficult to make effective function without legal binding force. The third stage is the appearance of children's rights laws. Children's Rights Convention (1989) changed the opinion and belief of children's rights protection into the promise and action of all governments for the first time, which demanded all contracting states to assume the legal responsibilities of children's rights protection.The second chapter tries to define children's rights. Children are people under the age of eighteen. Children's rights are both moral rights and legal rights, an important part of universal human rights. Because of the characteristics of children, children's rights also have particularity. There are five principles of children's rights protection, that is nondiscrimination, children's best interests, survival and development, respect to children's opinions, respect to children's dignity. These principles have formed the basis of Children's Rights Convention.The third chapter analyzes the basic content of children's rights and divides into survival rights, development rights, protection rights and participation rights. Survival rights are the primary rights with the content of rights of life, rights of having nationality and name, rights of enjoying high standard health, etc. Development rights are rights for children to develop their bodies and intellect with the content of information rights, education rights, rights of entertainment and cultural activities, etc. Protection rights contain the three parts of children's...