Global: Giving teenagers their rights

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was ratified in 1989 but many young people grow up knowing little of what it is to have the protection and freedoms that are described within its 54 articles. Much remains to be done to guarantee teenagers their rights. Often mistaken for or treated as adults, teenagers are vulnerable to many risks and dangers. Despite the protection offered by the CRC, their rights are too often neglected. Between eight and twenty million children are thought to be involved in the worst forms of child labour: forced and bonded labour, armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and trafficking.