Vulnerable and marginalized children such as refugee, migrant, disabled, street and indigenous children and youth, are still widely discriminated against says KidsRights after it recently released its annual global KidsRights Index [2] on children’s rights in 163 countries - with two Pacific countries, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, ranked among the worst performing on the list.

Overall, Norway has ranked first for the second year in a row and the top ten include Portugal, Iceland, Spain, Switzerland, Slovakia, Ireland, France, Finland and Tunisia.

The three worst performing countries, grouped together at the bottom of the list (161-163), are Vanuatu, Afghanistan and Central African Republic.

Above them were Guniea-Bissau (158), Papua New Guinea (159), and Chad (160).

Other Pacific Island countries were not included in the Index, including Tonga.

Chid participation

Founder and chairman of the KidsRights Foundation, Marc Dullaert, says countries need to do more in facilitating true child participation – ensuring children have a right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.

“Not a single one of the 163 countries analysed in the Index achieved the highest possible score on child participation. This means that the views of the 2.2 billion children on this planet are not being heard adequately regarding issues that affect them directly. KidsRights strongly urges all countries to increase efforts to ensure that the views of children are properly respected,” he said.

Improving considerably compared to last year were Mexico (102 to 37), Jamaica (103 to 51) and Colombia (123 to 60).

KidsRights says countries that can afford to do more for children's rights ranked lower such as Italy (81), Canada (72) and Luxembourg (56). And on the other hand, countries such as Tunisia (10) and Thailand (21) have performed better at enabling children’s rights.

Other countries that have scored poorly compared to 2015 include Brazil (43 to 107), the United Arab Emirates (39 to 78), the Dominican Republic (68 to 96) and Iraq (120 to 149). 

KidsRights found that cooperation between state and civil society was still underdeveloped in various countries and needed improvement. It also highlighted there has been an alarming increase in threats posed to the safety of children’s rights defenders, journalists and civil society activists in many countries and they were being harassed, threatened, abused or jailed.

The Index draws its data from two sources: UNICEF's quantitative data and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for all states legally bound by the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

According to KidsRights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is ratified by all of the world’s states except for the United States of America.

In the Pacific, the CRC has been signed and ratified or endorsed by Samoa, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

Other Pacific island nations that have agreed to the CRC but haven’t signed it include Tonga, Cook Islands, Kirribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

Tonga agreed to the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1995.

The Convention was adopted 26 years ago but according to KidsRights, there is still a large gap between policymakers good intentions and the actual effects policy has on the everyday lives of children.

The KidsRights Index is an annual global index ranking how countries abide by and are equipped to improve children’s rights.

 <a href="/%3Ca%20href%3D"http://www.kidsrightsindex.org">KidsRights">http://www.kidsrightsindex.org">KidsRights Index</a>