Child protection A handbook for parliamentarians

Fifteen years after the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of the Child we can take stock of the progress we have made in protecting our children. There have been important steps forward. New legislation has been developed with strengthened international standards, such as the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the use of children in armed conflict. 4 There have been a number of important international meetings, such as the Yokohama World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in 2001 or the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in 2002, which have reaffirmed the commitment of governments and civil society organizations to child protection and even laid out plans of action to achieve it. Despite these commitments and promises, children continue to suffer violence, abuse and exploitation every day. It is clear that our efforts are as necessary today as they were fifteen years ago. We will only achieve a world fit for children when we have succeeded in protecting every child from exploitation, violence, abuse and neglect. This handbook will enable Parliaments and their members to help to deliver on these promises and reach the fundamental goal of child protection.