The Convention on the Rights of the Child in brief

1. Every person below the age of 18 years is a child.

2. Every child is entitled to the rights of the child equally. A child must not be discriminated against for any reason.

3. Adults make many decisions that affect the lives of children. They must always ascertain what is best for the child.

4. The State must ensure that this Convention is implemented in children’s lives. Children are entitled to all the rights set out in this Convention.

5. Parents have the right and the duty to guide and instruct the child in the rights due to the child under this Convention. The State should respect this parental right.

6. Children have the right to life. The State must ensure that children grow and develop in the best possible conditions.

7. Children have the right to a name immediately after birth. Children have the right to a homeland and to be a citizen of that country. All the children have the right to know their parents and be cared for by them if possible.

8. Children have the right to retain their own name and nationality. Children have the right to know their relatives.

9. Children have the right to live with their parents if the parents are able to care for them. If children live away from their parents, the children shall have the right to maintain contact with their parents sufficiently often. If contact is harmful to the child, the authorities
may prevent it.

10. Children sometimes end up living in a different country to their parent or parents. The State must then try to reunite them as soon as possible.

11. The State must prevent adults from moving children from one country to another without permission.

12. Children have the right to have their say in matters that concern them. Adults must ascertain children’s opinion before they make decisions concerning them. Children’s opinions should be considered in respect of their age and development when making decisions about them. Adults must justify decisions to children in a manner that they can understand.

13. Children have the right to freely express their opinions. They may not, however, offend other people.

14. Children have the right to think freely. Children have the right to belong or not to belong to a religion. Parents have the right and the duty to advise and guide children in the exercising of this right.

15. Children have the right to join associations and attend their meetings.

16. Children have the right to privacy. A child’s honour or reputation must not be belittled or violated. Information concerning a child may not be distributed without permission to outsiders. No outsider may enter a child’s home without permission. When children receive mail addressed to them, only they are allowed to open it.

17. Children have the right to obtain information and to follow mass media in its various forms. Adults must protect children from information that may harm them.

18. Parents have joint responsibility for a child’s upbringing and care. They must act for the child’s best. The State and municipalities must support parents in this task.

19. Adults must protect children from all forms of violence and ill-treatment. Children may not be hurt in any way. No one may treat a child with negligence or abuse a child.

20. Children have the right to receive help if their parents do not take care of or mistreat them. In such a case, a child may live, for example, with another family or in a child welfare institution. Children may return to their parents if this is in the best interests of the children. Multiple changes in a child’s place of residence and home should be avoided. Children have the right to maintain relationships with the people who are
important to them.

21. If the parents of a child die or are unable to care for the child, the child may obtain a new permanent family. This is called adoption.

22. Children who enter Finland as refugees from another country are entitled to the care they require.

23. A child with disabilities is entitled to receive the best possible care and assistance such that this enhances the child’s sense of self-worth, self-confidence, and their ability to live a full and good life as a member of society. Children with disabilities must be supported so that
they can participate at school and in hobbies.

24. Children have the right to live as healthy a life as possible. Children have the right to receive care and assistance if they become ill. Children have the right to access a doctor. The health of expectant mothers should also be taken care of.

25. If children cannot live with their parents, other adults must provide them with good care. Child welfare workers should periodically review whether to continue the child’s placement outside the home.

26. Children and their parents are entitled to receive State and municipal assistance in financial matters.

27. Children are entitled to have a home, food, and adequate clothing. The State and the municipalities must assist parents in providing conditions favourable in all respects for a child’s growth and development.

28. Children have the right to attend school. Primary education must be free. School discipline must be reasonable and fair. The State must ensure that all children complete primary education. The State must offer as many children as possible the opportunity to
continue studying after completing primary education.

29. School must develop a child’s skills. It must develop a child’s native language and provide information about the cultures of a child’s own and other countries. Schools should provide information about the rights of children and other people. Children learn at school what multiculturalism, environmental protection, and gender equality mean.

30. Children belonging to a minority or an indigenous group have the right to their own culture, religion and language.

31. Children have the right to rest, play, and leisure. Children have the right to learn about the arts and culture.

32. Children must not be given work that damages their health or is detrimental to their education.

33. Adults must protect children from drugs.

34. Adults must protect children from sexual harassment. No one may entice or coerce a child into sex.

35. States must prevent the trafficking of children. Child trafficking means that someone abducts a child or children from their parents and sells the child or children to another person or persons. Child trafficking is a crime.

36. Adults must protect children from all forms of mistreatment.

37. Children shall not be punished cruelly or tortured. No one may undermine the rights of a child. Children shall not be imprisoned if other alternatives are available. If, however, children are imprisoned, they must be treated well and taken care of there. A child must not be in prison for long.

38. Children must not be taken into an army or to war. Adults must protect children in war.

39. The State must help children if they have been mistreated.

40. Even if children have or are suspected to have broken the law, they must be treated well and fairly.

41. The laws of a State may be better for the child than this Convention. In that case, people must comply with the laws of their country.

42. The State must ensure that all of its inhabitants know what the rights of the child are.

43. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child monitors that states and their inhabitants comply with this Convention.

44.–54. These articles indicate how long the Convention is valid for and how states comply with the Convention.