In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.
-UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Overview of Article 30
Article 30 of the Convention confers the right of the child, who belongs to minority or indigenous community and group, to claim, enjoy and practice their language, culture and religion with other members of the group. Integral concepts that must be regarded are protection for, measures to support and enable retention of and the ability of the child to choose, have, adopt and learn their culture, religion and language [1]. Importantly, there is an inter-relationship between right to survival and right to culture that require appreciation and protections for the collective traditions and values that sustain and preserve communities of minorities and indigenous groups [2].
As enshrined in Article 29(1) aims of education is directed to respect for human rights, cultural identity; language and values, realisation of Article 30 is a prerequisite for all children (from minority groups and non-minority groups).
Core attributes of Article 30
The core attributes of Article 30 are:
- Enjoy their own culture
- Profess and practice their own religion
- Use their own language
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 relevant SDG provisions have been identified for this article.
Potential sources of data for users of the indicators sets
- Court case statistics
- Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Household surveys
- Human rights violations reports of NGOs
- National vital registration systems
- Primary research by National Human Rights Institutions for Children
- Special rapporteur on minority issues
- Special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples
- The Peoples under Threat – Minority Rights Group International
References used for the overview
- Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). (2007). Legislative History of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Vol. 2, pp. 675-682). New York, United States of America and Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/LegislativeHistorycrc2en.pdf
- United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2009). General Comment No.11 – Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention (CRC/C/GC/11), (para. 16). Retrieved from the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights website: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2fGC%2f11&Lang=en
References used to create indicators
- Daly, A. & Smith, D. (2005). Indicators of risk to the wellbeing of Australian Indigenous children. Australian Review of Public Affairs, 6(1), 39–57.
- Heggie, K. (2018). Indigenous Wellness Indicators: Including Urban Indigenous Wellness Indicators in the Healthy City Strategy. City of Vancouver. Retrieved from https://sustain.ubc.ca/sites/sustain.ubc.ca/files/GCS/2018_GCS/Reports/2018-62%20Indigenous%20Wellness%20Indicators_Heggie.pdf
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully Revised 3rd Ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
- United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR). (n.d.). The Universal Human Rights Index (UHRI). Retrieved from https://uhri.ohchr.org/en
- 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 http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Human_rights_indicators_en.pdf
Glossary/key words
Indigenous
“According to one definition, Indigenous or Aboriginal Peoples are descendants of those who inhabited a country or geographic region at the time when peoples of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived, the new arrivals later becoming dominant through conquest, occupation, settlement or other means. Under Article 30 of the CRC those States Parties in which indigenous peoples exist shall not deny a child belonging to such a group the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, and to use his or her own language” (UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, 2000).
Minority
“A minority is a group of people in minority within the territory of a State. Under Article 30 of the CRC those States Parties in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist shall not deny a child belonging to such a minority the right, in community with other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language” (UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, 2000).
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