GlobalChild Platform

Article 13: Right to expression

  1. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.
  2. The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
    1. For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or
    2. For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

– UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Overview of Article 13
The key aim of Article 13 is to assure that a child, in all spheres of their public and private life, is able to express themselves, and to seek, obtain and share information and ideas without interference or being hampered by any barriers imposed by cultural, political, religious or State control [1]. Children as equal right holders are entitled to legal protections within the sphere of communication, and to give and receive adequate and proper information [2]. In the absence of access to information, children have limited opportunities for learning and meaningful participation, therefore also hampering the exercise of the right expressed in Article 12. If properly implemented, the realization of Article 13 will enable the child to be given information to be properly informed about their environment and relevant matters that impact their lives, allowing them to grow into an active citizen participating in public life, rather than merely following others [3].

Children have identified that adults can be a real barrier to the realisation of children’s civil and political rights. Therefore, there is an acute need for an enabling environment where children’s voices are not only heard/considered but also valued by adults (i.e. general public, parents, professionals) and where their such rights are encouraged and their expression of views given due weight. Additionally, children have expressed their need to freely impart information to both children and adults and they have outlined that it is often their freedom to communicate to other children that is constrained [4].

Like many rights, Article 13 is not absolute. While the enjoyment of this right is guaranteed, it may be subject to certain restrictions and care must be taken for the right to expression of one child(ren) to not a) infringe the right and reputation of other(s);  and/or b) put national security or public order or public health or morals at risk.

Articles from other Human Rights treaties relevant to this article include Article 21 (freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information) and Article 29 (freedom of participation in public and political life) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD, by virtue of having no defined age, governs children with disabilities as well [5]. Additionally Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, also declares the right to expression and opinion a right of every human being [5]. This article serves as the resource article for both Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 13 of the CRC.

Many articles of the CRC cross path with Article 13, however, in terms of the General Principles, Article 2 becomes significant in the implementation of Article 13 with respect to the right of expression of all children including children with different grounds for vulnerability and all children must be treated equally in regard to the child’s free expression and inquiry, and access to information and ideas in accessible formats. Additionally, the principle of the best interests (Article 3) [6] is the primary focus in implementation of Article 13. Right to expression is important in fulfilment of right to life, survival and development (Article 6), as the neurobiology literature has clearly established the positive impact of expression and stimulation (giving and taking information) on the developing brain and overall development [7]. Lastly, the right to be heard (Article 12) and Article 13 have a special connection, as without being heard, the implementation of Article 13 would be tokenistic at its best. Similarly, without access to information children would not be able to express themselves meaningfully and as a result won’t be heard. The hand-in-hand relationship of these two articles becomes particularly significant when it comes to younger children as articulated in General Comment 7.

Core attributes of Article 13

The core attributes of Article 13 are:

  • Access to information
  • Freedom of imparting information (from children to adults and children alike)
  • Special duties and responsibilities
  • Restrictions and limitations


Each of these attributes can be measured in terms of structural or process implementation or in terms of outcomes achieved through implementation as outlined in the table below. Some indicators, for instance the structural ones, may be common to all attributes. Others are common to two or more attributes, while some indicators may be relevant to one attribute only. An attempt has been made to balance the use of objective and subjective data indicators as well as qualitative and quantitative ones.

What did children say?

These are some ideas that children from around the world shared with us during the Global Child Rights Dialogue (GCRD) project:

Relevant provisions within the SDGs

No SDG provisions have been identified for this article.

Potential sources of data for users of the indicators sets
  • Administrative and Extrajudicial Bodies
  • Office of Children’s Ombudsperson
  • Privacy and Access to Information Commissions
  • Primary research by national human rights institutions for children
  • Primary research by universities and NGOs
  • School Board Student Data / Curriculum 

References used for the overview
  1. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR). (1989). The Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/CRCIndex.aspx
  2. Thorgeirsdottir, H. (2006). Article 13: The right to freedom of expression. In A. Alen, J. Vande Lanotte, E. Verhellen, F. Ang, E. Berghmans, & M. Verheyde (Eds.), A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (pp.1-9). Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
  3. United Nations Human Rights Committee. (2011). General comment No. 34, Article 19: Freedoms of opinion and expression (CCPR/C/GC/34), (para. 2, 12). Retrieved from https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/gc34.pdf
  4. GlobalChild. (2019). Global Child Rights Dialog Report. University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada.
  5. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2007). Legislative History of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Vol. 1, pp. 723-737). New York, United States of America and Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations. Retrieved from https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/legislative-history-convention-rights-child-volume-1
  6. Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights. (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/ConventionRightsPersonsWithDisabilities.aspx
  7. Claiming Human Rights. (2010). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Retrieved from http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/udhr_article_19.html
References used to create indicators
  • Council of Europe. (2019). Child Participation Assessment Tool. Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/en/web/children/child-participation-assessment-tool
  • Detrick, S., Doek, J.E. & Cantwell, N. (1992). Article 13. In The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Guide to the “Travaux Préparatoires.” (1st ed., pp. 229-237). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
  • United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully rev. 3rd ed., pp.186). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.

Glossary/key words

Harmonization
Harmonization means to bring into uniformity laws, policies, and practices. This can also relate to the unification of laws of member States that ensure protection of citizens.

Ratification
“To become a Party to the CRC. Ratification refers to the act whereby the competent authorities of the State express their consent to be bound by the CRC. The instruments of ratification has to be deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations” (UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, 2000).

Reservation
“A unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a state, when signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that State. The CRC provides in Article 51 that reservations may be made by States at the time of ratification or accession, and shall be received and circulated to all States by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Reservations incompatible with the object and purpose of the CRC shall not be permitted” (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2000).

Restrictions
“Limiting or restricting the enjoyment by the child of the rights set forth in the CRC where the relevant specific rights provision so allows. Such restrictions must be prescribed by law and necessary based on one or more of the grounds mentioned in the provision, such as for the protection of national security or of the public order” (ordre public) in Article 13 (UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, 2000).

Article 13 Indicator Tables

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