The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC or CRC) is a set of rules about how countries must respect children's rights.

UNICEF (the UN Children's Fund) explains it like this:

In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too.

The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.

The CRC says that all corporal punishment of children should be banned. It should be against the law to hit or hurt a child at home, at school and everywhere else.

Play a game to learn more about the CRC or read what the CRC says.

When countriesAll the countries in the world have signed up to ("ratified") the CRC, except for two - the USA and Somalia. That's 193 countries. officially sign up the CRC, they promise to try to keep all the rules it sets out about children's rights. The Committee on the Rights of the Child checks how well countries are keeping the rules.

Every 5 years, every country that has signed up to the CRC writes a report for the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Commitee on the Rights of the Child then tells the government of that country how they could respect children's rights better.

Often, other organisations also tell the Committee about how well children's rights are respected in their country. Sometimes, children work with organisations to make their own reports to the Committee. Read a guide for children about reporting to the Committee (also in French or Spanish). 

The UN Secretary General's Study on Violence Against Children (sometimes called the UN Violence Study) is a very big piece of research about violence against children all over the world.

In 2005, every region in the world held a meeting where children, adults and organisations talked about violence against children in their region and what could be done about it. Then a report about what they said was written.

The report will help organisations, adults and children know more about violence against children and how to stop it. It says that all violence against children, including all corporal punishment, should be made illegalAgainst the law..

Find out about the regional meetings and the children who went to them on the CRIN (Child Rights Information Network) website.

Learn about the results of the study - for young people aged over 12 or 7-12 - or read about some activities you can do with other young people to learn about and take action against violence (for young people over 12).

Try the Violence Study quiz on the CRIN website.