ildren (articles 3-5). Children have a right to a name and nationality as well as to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly; thought, religion, and conscience; privacy; education; and rest and leisure (articles 6-12). Special measures of protection are to be taken for handicapped children and children should enjoy physical, mental, and spiritual health (articles 13-14). Children should also be protected against all forms of economic exploitation and from performing work likely to be hazardous (article 15) and against all forms of torture, maltreatment, and abuse (article 16); harmful social and cultural practices (article 21); all forms of sexual exploitation or abuse (article 27); the use of narcotics and illicit drugs (article 28); and abduction, sale, trafficking, and use in begging (article 29).
European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights 1996
The European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights (ECECR) stresses in the Preamble the aim of promoting the rights and “best interests” of children. To that end, it states that children should have the opportunity to exercise their rights, particularly in family proceedings affecting them; they should be provided with relevant information (defined as information appropriate to the child’s age and understanding, given to enable the child to exercise his or her rights fully, unless contrary to the welfare of the child) and their views should be given “due weight”; and, “where necessary,” States as well as parents, should engage in the protection and promotion of those rights and best interests (Preamble). The ECECR applies to children who have not reached the age of eighteen (article 1(1)). The ECECR procedural rights include the child’s right to be informed and to express his or her views in proceedings; the right to apply for the appointment of a special representative; and “other possible procedural rights,” e.g., the right to apply to be assisted by an appropriate person of their choice to help them express their views, the right to appoint their own representative, and the right to exercise some or all of the rights of parties to the proceedings (articles 3-5).
IV. Specific Provisions in Other International and Regional Instruments
Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights contains two articles that specifically refer to children. Article 25(2) states: “[m]otherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children whether born in or out of wedlock shall enjoy the same social protection.” Article 26 calls for the right to education for all, and deals both with access to and the aims of education. Thus, education is to be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages; elementary education is to be compulsory; and education should be “directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Nevertheless, “[p]arents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966
The Preamble to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), insofar as it recognizes the indivisibility of human rights, is applicable to children’s rights as well. Thus, it notes that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” and that “these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.”Specific references to children are found in articles 10 and 12. Under article 10, “[t]he widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded to the family, … particularly for its establishment and while it is responsible for the care and education of dependent children” (item 1, in part). It further stipulates that “special measures of protection and assistance” should be taken on behalf of the young without any discrimination; that they should b