Basic Human Rights Denied to Children Growing up Without Families

The Convention has become the most widely ratified human rights treaty and has been adopted by 194 countries (Somalia, South Sudan, and the United States have yet to ratify the treaty). Even still, countless children are denied these basic human rights. Due to abandonment, poverty, conflict, violence, and HIV/AIDS, millions of children worldwide are at risk. According to UNCIEF (The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund), there are 153 million orphans worldwide. Of those roughly, 15.1 million are double orphans*, and of these, an estimated 2-8 million children are in institutional care or living on the streets. (The reason for the large estimated span is that many countries underreport, or don’t report at all, children in institutional care.)

*UNICEF defines “orphan” as a “child under 18 years old who has lost one or both parents.” The reason for this definition dates back to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the mid-1990s. During this time, many children lost one parent to the disease. The children would then either remain with the surviving parent or, more often, go on to be raised by extended family. Double orphans refer to children who have lost both of their parents and are effectively alone.

Some organizations will argue that taking a child from their country of origin is against Article 15 of the UDHR, as such an adoption would deny the child their birthright heritage. But both the UDHR and the Convention on Children’s Rights state “the child’s best interest should be the guiding principal” in any decision. Leaving children in institutional care, or on the streets, is a denial of their basic human rights. In recent years, one of the things we have learned is that early trauma lingers well beyond childhood. Children who experience a lack of security and a lack of access to the most basic provisions (like clean water, food, and a place to sleep) take years to recover from the experience, if recovery is even possible.

The chance to be placed with a forever family and to begin to heal from the traumas these children have faced should trump any sovereignty claim. Such claims are not in the best interest of the child and more importantly, do not take the child’s basic human rights into account: the right to be healthy, the right to basic securities, and the right to live in a safe, loving environment where they can blossom and grow with their forever families.