Today’s date is celebrated around the world as the Universal Children’s Day, with the aim of
sensitizing the public on the need to protect the children from abuse, violence and various
forms of discrimination. United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the
Rights of Children on the 20th November 1959 and the Convention on the Right of Children
in 1989.
From the Office of the Ombudsman for children of Republika Srpska it is emphasized
how the UN Convention on the rights of Children, as the universal international document
dedicated to children, is the expression of the need to provide special protection and care to
the children. This is pointed out because the existing system of protection and freedoms of
citizens, on the international level, is not enough guarantee for the protection and freedom of
children.
”The rights of children, as determined by the Convention, are only the needs of every
child which are different in different periods of their upbringing. Because of this, it is of
great importance that the needs of every child, in every period of their life and upbringing
stay acknowledged, so they could be secured and provided in the family, school, or the
community. The rights that children have do not mean that children can do whatever they
want, that they are overprotected and that by learning their rights they have the right to
neglect their duties. Children have their duties and responsibilities in accordance with their
age and their ability to assume obligations and responsibilities”- it was said in the Office of
the Ombudsman for children.
