• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 09 / 21 / 2011

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Margarita Barrios. September 20, 2011 0:19:39 CDT. Cuba is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its ratification of the Convention of the Rights of Children as a law in the country. And Cuban children have a lot to celebrate: they aren't rich, but are lacking in nothing, with guaranteed access to food, education, health and other benefits that are offered freely by the state; as well as an entire nation that watches over their wellbeing with the firm belief that they represent the nation's most valuable treasure.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Convention generally defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless an earlier age of majority is recognized by a country's law.

Nations that ratify this convention are bound to it by international law.Compliance is monitored by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child which is composed of members from countries around the world. Once a year,the Committee submits a report to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, which also hears a statement from the CRC Chair, and the Assembly adopts a Resolution on the Rights of the Child.

Governments of countries that have ratified the Convention are required to report to, and appear before, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child periodically to be examined on their progress with regards to the advancement of the implementation of the Convention and the status of child rights in their country. Their reports and the committee's written views and concerns are available on the committee's website.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention and opened it for signature on November 20, 1989 (the 30th anniversary of its Declaration of the Rights of the Child). It came into force on 2 September 1990, after it was ratified by the required number of nations. As of November 2009, 194 countries have ratified it, including every member of the United Nations except Somalia and the United States of America. Somalia's cabinet ministers had announced plans to ratify the treaty.

Two optional protocols were adopted on 25 May 2000. The First Optional Protocol restricts the involvement of children in military conflicts, and the Second Optional Protocol prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Both protocols have been ratified by more than 140 states.

The Convention deals with the child-specific needs and rights. It requires that states act in the best interests of the child. This approach is different from the common law approach found in many countries that had previously treated children as possessions or chattels, ownership of which was sometimes argued over in family disputes.

Cuba signed the UNCRC on January 26, 1990 and ratified it on August 21 1991. The instrument came into force on September 20, 1991.

Nevertheless, the Cuban State did not wait for any international treaty or Summit to consecrate its will to protect and guarantee the rights of children.

In Cuba beginning in the early 1960s, a series of measures, programs and legislation came into effect to guarantee that children and adolescents have the same rights as adults, along with other specific rights related to their condition as people who are growing.

Although the UNCRC has been accepted by the majority of the world's nations, its application is not governed by any particular organization and children still die from curable diseases, and suffer from illiteracy, discrimination and violence.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/126472