Children's rights
Start Strong believes that quality care and education should be a right for all young children.
Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992. All children – of all ages – hold rights under the Convention, including: the right to education, play, and recreation; the right to safeguards from abuse and neglect; and the right to have a say in matters that affect them.
The Convention asserts that the best interests of the child should be the primary consideration in all actions concerning children. Though the Convention does not explicitly name the right to quality early care and education, in 2005 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child examined the issue.
The Committee concluded that:
- For the exercise of their rights, young children have particular requirements for physical nurturance, emotional care and sensitive guidance, as well as time and space for social play, exploration and learning.
- Under normal circumstances, a young child’s parents play a crucial role in the achievement of their rights, along with other members of family, extended family or community, including legal guardians as appropriate.
- Appropriate assistance to parents can best be achieved as part of comprehensive policies for early childhood, including provision for health, care and education during the early years.
- The Committee calls on States parties to ensure that all young children (and those with primary responsibility for their well-being) are guaranteed access to appropriate and effective services, including programmes of health, care and education specifically designed to promote their well-being.
- The Convention recognises the right of the child to education. The Committee interprets the right to education during early childhood as beginning at birth and closely linked to young children’s right to maximum development.
- Work with young children should be socially valued and properly paid, in order to attract a highly qualified workforce, men as well as women.
- States parties are urged to adopt comprehensive, strategic and time-bound plans for early childhood within a right-based framework. This requires an increase in human and financial resource allocations for early childhood services and programmes.