children’s rights legislative reform

Definition of the child - Childrens Rights Reform

Key elements of a Children's Rights Based Approach to legislative reform

Contents

Definition of the child

Definition of the child under the CRC

  • For the purpose of the CRC, a child means every human being below the age of 18, unless majority is attained earlier under national law (article 1 CRC).
  • The CRC recognises the rights of all persons under 18 years old (CRC GC 20, para. 1). All children are entitled to all rights enshrined in the CRC.
See also

Age limits

  • States commonly provide different age limits in different contexts.
  • The CRC Committee has acknowledged that it may be useful to set up such limits in some cases, such as the right to make decisions in respect of health services or treatment, consent to adoption, change of name or applications to family court (CRC GC 20, para. 39).
  • It has also recommended against the use of age limits in other domains, for example in relation to the right to be heard (e.g. CRC GC 12, para. 21).
  • The CRC Committee has consistently emphasised that States Parties must give consideration to the interrelatedness, interdependence and indivisibility of rights enshrined in the CRC when setting age limits.
  • The CRC Committee provides guidance for States Parties (examples):
    • The minimum age of criminal responsibility should be at least 14 years old (CRC GC 24, para. 22)
    • The minimum age for marriage should be 18 years old (CRC GC 20, para. 40)
    • States Parties should set a minimum age for sexual consent, taking into account the need to balance protection and evolving capacities (See Evolving capacities of the child and the role of parents below), and avoiding criminalisation of adolescents of similar ages for factually consensual and non-exploitative sexual activity (CRC GC 20, para. 40). This age should be the same for boys and girls (CRC GC 4, para. 5). The CRC Committee has expressed concerns over differences in ages between heterosexual and same-sex activities and in cases where it considers the age of sexual consent to be too low (e.g. COB Philippines 2013, para. 9).

See also CRIN discussion paper for more information on age limits and minimum ages.