- States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
- States Parties shall respect the rights and duties of the parents and, when applicable, legal guardians, to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.
- Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.
– UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Overview of Article 14
Article 14 of the CRC attributes to children the fundamental civil right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion and as is the case for other autonomy and participation rights in the CRC, namely article 12 to 17, it operates a significant evolution for the recognition of children as an autonomous subject of law [1]. It also recognizes the rights and duties of the parents, but in addition, it attributes them a ‘guiding role’. Article 14(2) echoes Article 5 and reiterates the paradigm shift of the CRC, based on the respect of the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents[1] to provide, in a consistent manner with the evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the rights of the child recognized in the CRC”. The parental right outlined in Article 14(2) is “accessory to the child’s right, rather than an autonomous right on an equal footing” [1].
Despite that Article 14(1) and (3) are pretty much in line with the wording of Article 18 of the ICCPR, Article 14(2), has a rather different phrasing and it fails to include explicitly in the text the children’s right to adopt or change their religion.
[1] Included members of the extended family or community as provided for by local custom, legal guardians or other persons legally responsible for the child.
Core attributes of Article 14
The core attributes of Article 14 are:
- Restrictions in the manifestation of children’s freedom of thought, conscience and religion
- Protection against State indoctrination
- Protection against religious and moral instruction imposed by parents
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 could be specific 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
- Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
- Target 16.10 Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.
- Target 16.b Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.
Potential sources of data for users of the indicators sets
- National constitution and legislation
- National surveys and census data
- Primary research by National Human Rights Institutions for Children
- Primary research by universities and NGOs
References used for the overview
- Brems, E. (2006). Article 14: The rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. 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.1-26). Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
References used to create indicators
- United Nations General Assembly. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. SDG Indicators: Target 16.10 and Target 16.b. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata
- United Nations General Assembly. (2010). Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (A/RES/64/142). Retrieved from http://brantfacs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/United-Nations-Guidelines-for-the-Alternative-Care-of-Children-2010.pdf
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully rev. 3rd ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
- United Nations Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) (2012). Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation (HR/PUB/12/5). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Human_rights_indicators_en.pdf
- Vaghri, Z., Zermatten, J., Lansdown, G. & Ruggiero, R. (Eds.) (Forthcoming). Attributes of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Analysis for state compliance. Geneva, Switzerland: Springer Nature.
Glossary/key words
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