Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides for another principle guiding the interpretation, implementation and application of the Convention and its provisions. This article enshrines the child’s inherent right to life and includes the state obligation to ensure the survival and development of the child (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2006).
The right to life
The right to life has to be interpreted as both a civil and political as well as an economic, social and cultural right as it should not be interpreted narrowly (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2017). The interpretation of the right to life as a civil and political right provides the right to be safeguarded against arbitrary killing and the “entitlement to be free from acts and omissions intended or expected to cause their unnatural and premature death” (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2017).
The economic, social and cultural interpretation adds the requirement of minimum conditions for a life with dignity for the effective enjoyment of the right (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2017). This interpretation of the right to life in Article 6 is complemented by the inclusion of the right to survival and development
The right to survival
The principle of survival and development can only be implemented in a holistic manner as it requires a conjunctive reading with all other rights and provisions of the CRC such as guiding principles and substantive rights (“rights to health, adequate nutrition, social security, an adequate standard of living, a healthy and safe environment, education and play (arts. 24, 27, 28, 29 and 31)”) (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2006).
For the purposes of Article 6, the right to survival should be interpreted to oblige states to take all appropriate positive as well as negative measures that will contribute to the survival of a child. This means that states are obliged to not only refrain from arbitrary deprivation of life, but also to implement active measures to take preventative steps “to prolong the life of the children” (OHCHR, 2007).
In this respect, the right to survival corresponds with the current and broad interpretation of the right to life to include an obligation “to create the conditions necessary to ensure a life of dignity” (Tobin, 2019). The 1990 World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children provides a non-exhaustive list of causes threatening the child’s physical survival such as “malnutrition, disease, lack of clean water, inadequate sanitation, and the effects of drugs” (World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, 1990).
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) extends this list by the following issues: “the incidence of acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea, anaemia, intestinal infectious diseases, bacterial infection, measles, pneumonia and HIV/ AIDS, inadequate prenatal and postnatal care, low immunization rates, poor sanitation (including lack of access to safe drinking water), and malnutrition.” (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2005).
The right to development
The holistic concept of the right to development includes the state obligation to ensure the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral, psychological and social development (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2017). The right to development is based on the rapid and vulnerable process of development which differentiates children from adults (Morag, 2014). Therefore, it is a unique right for children and focuses on the personal development of the child (Tobin, 2019).
The CRC Committee highlighted that the development of the child´s “physical, psychological, spiritual, social, emotional, cognitive, cultural and economic capacities” (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2016) and sexual development (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2003) fall within the scope of Article 6 CRC. The child’s development, similar to the child’s best interest, has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis combining multiple disciplines such as “paediatrics, psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, social work, and education” (Tobin, 2019). These considerations have to be guarded against reflecting traditional gender, racial and class biases.
“To the maximum extent possible”
The term “shall ensure” does not allow for any discretion by the state. By the inclusion of the term” to the maximum extent possible” the drafting parties provided for potential exceptions to limit the obligations of a state party. These exceptions may include possible issues such as the limited resources available to the state (Article 4 CRC), the acts or omissions of a child’s parents or legal guardians (Article 5 and 27 CRC), the acts or omissions of other third parties (Article 2 CRC) and the acts or omissions of a child him- or herself (Tobin, 2019). Shortcomings based on the aforementioned grounds have to be justified and the causality well substantiated.
Written by Alexander Weihrauch
Last updated on 2 March 2021
Bibliography:
1990 World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, para. 12 from the World Summit for Children on 30 September 1990. In: Tobin, John (28 March 2019), The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary”, Oxford Commentaries on International Law, Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law (OSAIL).
Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (2007), Legislative History of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘Legislative History’), p. 365.
Tobin, John (28 March 2019), The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary”, Oxford Commentaries on International Law, Chapter 4, 7 and 13, Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law (OSAIL).
Committee on the Rights of the Child (21 June 2017), General comment No. 21 on children in street situations, CRC/C/GC/21.
Morag, Tamar (2014), The Principles of the Un Convention on the Rights of the Child and their influence on Israeli Law, Michigan State International Law Review Vol. 22: 2.
Committee on the Rights of the Child (21 September 2005), Concluding Observations: Nepal, 39th Session, CRC/C/15/Add. 261 in: Tobin, John (28 March 2019), The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary”, Oxford Commentaries on International Law, Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law (OSAIL).
