Every child has rights.

In New Zealand we may not be familiar with the term child rights.  This is because we receive a lot of basic rights without realising it, like the right to water, the right to shelter or the right to medical care.

Historically many people who have sought to define what children's rights are have been motivated by their encounters with children affected by war.  It is not hard to understand why witnessing the treatment and suffering of children during war time has motivated people to act to help children.  UNICEF itself was formed at the end of 1946 in response to the needs of displaced and refugee children after WWII.

When people work to raise awareness of a cause, such as the basic rights children should receive, it is often called advocacy.  Advocacy can lead to the need to define what it is you are actually seeking.  Hence, the need to define what rights children have has come about through those seeking to help disadvantaged children.

It is important for children to be aware of their rights and to respect the rights of others.  For example, the right to an education is considered a basic right of every child.  In New Zealand every child should be aware that they have the right to go to school and learn to respect the rights of the other children in their class to learn.

The result of all the hard work to define child rights by a lot of people led eventually to the current internationally accepted standard on the rights of children, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this document is listed a set of rights and responsibilities for children and those who care for them which has been agreed to by almost all countries in the world.