Start chapter 7, Part II: Juveniles and young prisoners
Juveniles and young prisoners
Juveniles and young prisoners
N.B. Recommended reading: Promoting the Health of Young People in Custody. WHO Regional Office for Europe: 2003
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) defines a child as any human being below the age of 18 years (CRC Article 1).
191 countries ratified the convention. The convention spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere, without discrimination, have. These are:
the right to survival
the right to develop to the fullest
the right to protection from harmful influences, abuse, and exploitation
the right to participate fully in family, cultural and social life
Standards in health care, education and legal, civil and social services are set as benchmarks against which progress can be assessed. Article 24 provides that children have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to medical services, and particularly to primary and preventative healthcare and health education.
In the UN General Assembly Special Session held from May 8th -10th 2002, to review the first ten years since the Convention on the Rights of the Child, goals and strategies were set for the next decade in four specific areas and were agreed, namely:
health promotion
the provision of education
protection against abuse and violence
combating HIV/AIDS