The world has made a lot of progress on children rights since the 1990s. Governments have changed laws and policies, increased investments in children and set stronger safeguards to protect kids from violence and exploitation. And more children are having their voices heard and finding ways to contribute to their communities.

But still, too many kids are being denied the basic things they need to survive — clean water, enough food, decent shelter, education and health care. They’re being harmed by war, poverty and other factors that make them vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation. And when they don’t get what they need, they can’t thrive — and neither can society.

One of the key things that governments need to do is to ensure that all children have what they need to live, learn and grow. Children have a right to life, which means that they deserve the best possible health care, food, safe water, clean air and other essentials – so that they can live healthy and active lives. They also have a right to education, so that they can learn the skills they need to find good jobs and be full participants in their societies. They should be protected from violence and have access to justice.

All governments have a responsibility to protect all children’s rights, which are outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Governments should take action to ensure that children can enjoy their rights in practice. This includes taking steps to ensure that all families have what they need for their children to thrive. It should include taking action to prevent discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability or religion. Policies should seek to maintain family unity, and to keep children with their parents unless this is not in their best interests.

A rights-based approach to development is the only way to improve outcomes for children and ensure that every child has a chance to reach their full potential. In order to achieve this, there needs to be a new standard for policymaking: the “best interest of the child.” This is a simple but powerful principle that can help improve decisions about children’s lives. It is a standard that should be applied to all forms of policymaking, including laws, policies, plans, programs and budgets.

Children should be able to express their views and opinions about the issues that affect them, and adults should listen to them. They should also be able to join and create groups and organizations, and they should have the opportunity to participate in political life. They should be given information from multiple sources, and in their own language, and they should be allowed to communicate with each other across borders. This is called participation rights. There are also other rights that are not linked to the level of maturity, and these are called protection rights. The first subclass of C-rights are those rights that children possess in virtue of their condition of childishness – they are entitled to receive those goods that they cannot secure for themselves because they lack the necessary resources.