http://www.crin.org/docs/CRC_Karen_translation.pdf

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1989, is the most comprehensive of all international human rights legal instruments. The civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights it contains apply to all children, everywhere, all the time. Almost all governments in the world have now
agreed to apply these rights within their domestic laws and to report regularly to the Committee on the Rights of the Child about progress in implementation.

Under Article 42, governments are obliged to be active in making the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known by all children and adults. In 2005 a Karen boy in a refugee camp on the Thai/Myanmar Border requested a visitor to the orphanage in which he lives to find him a copy of the Convention in his own language. As no Karen translation then existed, Knowing Children took on the responsibility of translating, printing and overseeing the distribution of the official text, prefaced by a children-friendly explanation with pictures drawn by a Karen artist.

The book (pocket-sized) is being distributed by various agencies on both side of the Thai/Myanmar border. On 25 November, the Karen CRC will be launched in Mae Hlar Refugee Camp (Thai side of the border) in the same orphanage where the teenaged boy asked for a copy of the CRC in his mother tongue in 2004.

Further information

• Information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Text of the Convention (in English)
• Convention in 58 languages

Previous UN report items

• 18/11/2006: La violencia contra niños, niñas y adolescentes
• 17/11/2006: Child and adolescent health and development progress report 2004-2005
• 09/11/2006: Rapport du Secrétaire général sur les enfants et les conflits armés au Burundi
• 09/11/2006: Human Development Report 2006: Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis
• 09/11/2006: Rapport mondial sur le développement humain 2006: L'impact de la crise mondiale de l’assainissement sur la mortalité infantile

Contact Information:

Judith Ennew, Head of Programme Development
Knowing Children
Room 3084 Siam Court, 130 Soi Sukhumvit 4
Bangkok, 101100 Thailand
Email: judith.ennew@knowingchildren.org

Last updated 20/11/2006 12:50:18

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.