The Inter-Parliamentary Union, the world organisation of Parliaments, and UNICEF, the organisation mandated by the United Nations to promote and ensure respect for the rights of children, have worked together to produce this handbook for parliamentarians. They have done so in recognition of the ethical, legal and developmental imperatives surrounding child protection. Both organisations have a long-standing commitment to the protection of children, and both are determined to make every effort to make protection a reality.
The fulfilment of children’s rights, including those to protection, depends on a global movement in which everybody not only understands and respects their duties to children, but also acts upon them. Parliaments and their members can and should be among the foremost champions of child protection. They can legislate, oversee government activity, allocate financial resources and, as leaders within their nations and communities, raise awareness of issues and provide advocacy.
This handbook addresses all of those functions. It does so in general terms, and with regard to ten specific child protection issues: birth registration and the right to identity; protection of children in armed conflict; sexual exploitation of children; trafficking and sale of children; harmful traditional practices; violence and neglect; alternative care; juvenile justice; child labour; and the rights of child victims.
©UNICEF and Inter-Parliamentary Union
