Since its creation in September 1994, the International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR) has been committed to “a world in which children’s rights are a daily reality”.
Our vision is directly linked to the history of children’s rights, which have been internationally enshrined since 1989 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), its facultative protocols and general observations, as well as other regional or national legal instruments respecting its spirit. These texts formalize that from birth to the age of 18, every child is a rights-holder, like every other human being. That children are full-fledged citizens, with a role to play today, with non-negotiable rights, with a place in our societies, and not beings in the making or beneficiaries whose needs are to be fulfilled.
While the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified legal instrument in the world, our organization’s starting point is the realization that all children today still face obstacles in ensuring that their rights are respected and realized, and that these rights are not yet sufficiently concrete in the daily lives of every child, in a tangible way, in all equality and in all circumstances.
Whether it’s the place children occupy in various societies, the recourse they have for making themselves heard, societal and legislative priorities, funding earmarked for children’s rights, protection against violence or child-friendly justice, it’s also the ability of adults and children to translate children’s rights into daily decisions, actions and collaboration that remains to be achieved.
On a global level, children are still little considered as citizens, as holders of rights like the rest of us, and their opinions are little considered. While they are greatly affected by all the dynamics that affect us too, children are not consulted about their needs, aspirations and recommendations when faced with these situations.
There are still too many gaps between what is codified, what is an international obligation, and what children experience in their daily lives, all over the world.
For this reason, the International Bureau for Children’s Rights is committed to helping make children’s rights a reality in everyday life throughout the world.