Rights

All children have the same rights, no matter where they're from, whether they're a boy or a girl, what religion they belong to, or whether they are HIV-positive or not. They have the same rights no matter what their family background is or whether they are disabled or not. Yet every day children, like adults, are discriminated against for any number of reasons. Poverty is also a huge barrier that denies children their rights.

Children have the same rights even if they do not have the nationality of the country they are living in. In 2008, after UNICEF UK put pressure on the UK Government, the Government removed its last two reservations to the UN Convention on the Child, including one on immigration and nationality. This means that children who have fled their country and come to the UK seeking asylum, and children who have been trafficked into the UK and exploited, often forced to work, now have the same rights, such as to education and health, as British children.

Through our community-based programmes, UNICEF works to end cultural traditions and practices that harm children and violence against children because of their gender.

Children and young people affected by HIV are often denied their rights because of discrimination or because they or their parents don't have access to the right treatment. UNICEF supports children affected by HIV with funding and services including health care and counselling.

Here in the UK, the fifth richest country in the world, around four million children live in poverty. UNICEF UK, as a member of the End Child Poverty coalition, is working to make sure that the UK Government keeps its promise to end child poverty in the UK by 2020.