The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and HIV/AIDS.

The development of the human rights framework in place today can be charted back to the creation of the United Nations (UN) following the Second World War. The system of treaties gives formal recognition to certain rights for all human beings that states have a duty to uphold and protect. Children fall within the bounds of all human rights treaties but, because of their unique biological, economic and social dependency , children need extra care and protection and these are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The UNCRC consists of 41 articles which define children's rights to life, to survival, to freedom of expression and belief and to protection from exploitation. It has four guiding principles, outlined in Table 1. All but two countries have signed and ratified the CRC and have bound themselves to the progressive realization of its terms in law and practice. In spite of this, the practical relevance of the CRC for children's health and well-being, and particularly for public health, is not widely understood. Yet Goldhagen asserts that the UNCRC is 'among the most powerful tools available to respond to and increase the relevance of paediatrics to contemporary disparities and determinants of child health outcomes' [1]. This is because the CRC establishes a framework to redefine what constitutes child health, a template for child advocacy, a matrix for establishing new approaches in health services, a curriculum for professional education and a challenge for future child health outcomes and health system research. This leads to different causal pathways and interventions [1, 2]. This editorial will explore this issue in relation to HIV infection. HIV provides an example of the way in which the UNCRC helps shift attention from a biomedical TABLE 1 Guiding principles of the UNCRC 1. Article 2—All rights must be applied to all children equally and not subject to discrimination of any kind. (Applied to heath care, provision must be made for all children irrespective of—among other things—ethnicity, religion or race.) 2. Article 3—The best interests of the (individual) child shall be a primary consideration. 3. Article 12—Due weight must be given to a child's view on accordance with the age and maturity of the child. (This recognizes children's unique understanding of their own lives and the need to take their views into account). 4. Article 6—The right to life survival and development shall be paramount. (The …