According to the UNCRC Child Rights are minimum entitlements and freedoms that should be exercised by all citizens below the age of 18 regardless of race, color, creed, gender, language, religion, opinions, origins, wealth, birth status or ability and therefore applicable to entire population across the globe. The UN finds these rights interdependent and indivisible, meaning that a right cannot be exercise at the expense of another’s right.
The purpose of the UNCRC is to outline the basic human rights to safeguard rights of the children. There are four broad classifications of these rights. These four categories cover all civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights of every child. They are Right to Survival, Right to Protection, Right to Participation, Right to Development.
Child Protection
Unicef defines child protection as the prevention of or responding to the incidence of abuse, exploitation, violence and negligence on the part of guardians towards their children. This includes physical sexual exploitation, trafficking, child labor and harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation and child marriage. Protection also allows children to have access to their other rights of survival, development, growth and participation. Unicef maintains that when child protection fails or is absent children tend to have a higher risk of death, poor physical and mental health, HIV/AIDS infection, academic anomalies, displacement, homelessness, vagrancy and poor parenting skills later in life.
Children Act amended in 2018 in Nepal mandated that delinquents who are in conflict with law and convicted by the court of law or in a state of sub judice should be kept in juvenile correctional home. Currently, UCEP Nepal is managing four Juvenile Correction Homes across the country for Nepal Government for the children who are in conflict with law. Also, in coordination with National Child Rights Council (NCRC), UCEP Nepal is also running Socialization Center for improving living condition of street children.
