This World Children’s Day: Grant every Child Every Right by Lifting the Worship Ban on China’s Children
As the World Children’s Day approaches, we ask that the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and other religious freedom ambassadors, raise anew China’s violations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In 2013 the Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended the government of China to “take all necessary measures” to “effectively guarantee the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion for those under 18,” highlighting unrecognized faiths.[i] China, however, has continued to extend its restrictions on the child’s right to freedom of religion or belief to all youth under the age of 18 years, thus blatantly disregarding the UN mechanisms and the rights these mechanisms seek to protect.
China as a member of the UN Human Rights Council needs to be held at a higher standard, since the Council’s membership influences its impacts. Exposing China’s human rights violations is essential in countering Chinese influence at the UN and preventing the undermining of the United Nations credible mechanisms.
[i] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of China, 4 October 2013, CRC/C/CHN/CO/3-4, para. 42.