Children have the right to life.
Governments should make sure that children develop and grow healthily and should protect them from things which could hurt them.
A right to develop
This Article also says that children and young people should be able to grow up in conditions that don’t impact negatively on their physical and mental wellbeing.
It says the government should do as much as they can to make sure children and young people can live in these conditions in order that they can develop.
The right to survive and develop is a general principle
The right to survive and develop is one of the four general principles of the UNCRC, which underpin how it should be interpreted and put into practice.
The four principles are:
- Non-discrimination (Article 2)
- Best Interests (Article 3)
- The right to survive and develop (Article 6)
- The right to have your views heard and taken seriously (Article 12)
Relevant General Comments
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has produced many General Comments that help people understand how the UNCRC works in practice.
Some General Comments that are relevant to Article 6 are:
- General Comment 4, on adolescent health and development in the context of the UNCRC,
- General Comment 7, on implementing child rights in early childhood, and
- General Comment 20, on implementation of the UNCRC during adolescence.
Days of General Discussion
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child facilitates Days of General Discussion where experts from around the world can discuss a child rights issue in detail. The reports of their discussions are a helpful tool to understand how the UNCRC should be interpreted.
Some Days of General Discussion relevant to Article 6 are: