Child Rights. The Convention: Child Rights and UNICEF Experience at the Country Level. Innocenti Studies.

The most revolutionary element of UNICEF's approach to the implementation of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child is the integration of the principles of the Convention into individual countries' programs for children. The convention has impacted UNICEF by broadening it's framework for analyzing the situation of children. This publication documents the experiences of Bolivia, Kenya, and Brazil in the area of child rights, and comments on the ways in which UNICEF, through its tradition of advocacy for children and practical action at the country level, can best support governments in implementing the convention. The case study from Bolivia discusses the implementation of the convention and the promotion of children's rights in Bolivia, and analyzes the convention's impact on programs for children. The Kenyan study focuses on the convention's usefulness in helping set goals for children, and reveals gaps and constraints in national policy on children's issues. The case study from Brazil documents processes that led to constitutional changes, discusses ways of applying legislative reforms, and describes a national movement for the protection of children. A statement on international goals for children in the 1990s is appended. (SM)