Promoting the rights of Children with disabilities innocenti digest no

partners working at all levels of society. Increasing 
numbers of children who would have previously 
been sent to segregated schools or even been 
denied an education altogether now attend regular 
classes at their local school and are accepted as 
members of their local community. Achieving 
the full participation in society of children with 
disabilities is an objective of the global disability 
rights movement, a powerful initiative by persons 
with disabilities to claim their basic human rights. 
This movement is gaining momentum and has 
recorded impressive achievements. Disabled 
persons’ organizations have successfully promoted 
education reforms in many countries, and they 
have been recognized as a major force behind the 
process leading to the Convention on the Rights of 
Persons with Disabilities.
editorial

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vii
Innocenti Digest No. 13
Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities
While there are grounds for optimism, we are still far 
from seeing all the world’s 200 million children with 
disabilities enjoying effective and equitable access to 
basic social services and meaningful participation in 
society. For example, around 90 per cent of children 
with disabilities in developing countries do not 
attend school. 
Society must adapt its structures to ensure that all 
children, irrespective of age, gender and disability, 
can enjoy the human rights that are inherent to their 
human dignity without discrimination of any kind. In-
ternational human rights standards, including the Con-
vention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Standard 
Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons 
with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of 
Persons with Disabilities, all point the way towards 
overcoming discrimination and recognizing the right 
to full participation of children with disabilities – in the 
home and community, in school, health services, rec-
reation activities and in all other aspects of life.
This 
Innocenti Digest
addresses inclusion in the wid-
est societal sense and gives particular attention to 
inclusive strategies for all levels of education. Early 
childhood development interventions and informal 
education play a critical role in promoting children’s 
development and in preparing them for adult life as 
active participants in the local community and society. 
It is a means for raising children’s awareness of their 
rights and overcoming prejudice and discrimination. 
Through education children acquire the skills neces-
sary to reach their full potential, both as individuals 
and citizens. Education offers one of the most effec-
tive means to break the cycle of poverty that all too 
often overtakes children with disabilities and their 
families. Education can also prepare other children 
and the surrounding community to promote inclusion 
and to be more receptive to and supportive of chil-
dren with disabilities.
Disability cannot be considered in isolation. It cuts 
across all aspects of a child’s life and can have very 
different implications at different stages in a child’s 
life cycle. Many of the initiatives to promote the 
rights of children with disabilities overlap with those 
for other excluded groups. This 
Innocenti Digest 
aims, therefore, to encourage actors at all levels − 
from the local to the international − to include chil-
dren with disabilities in 
all 
their programmes and 
projects and to ensure that no child is left out. 
The information presented here makes it abundantly 
clear that real progress is possible in all countries, 
including the poorest, and that obstacles seeming to 
be insurmountable can be overcome. 
Marta Santos Pais
Director
UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre

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Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities
Innocenti Digest No. 13
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 
recognizes the human rights of all children, including 
those with disabilities. The Convention contains a 
specific article recognizing and promoting the rights 
of children with disabilities. Along with the CRC, the 
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 
(CRPD), adopted by the United Nations General 
Assembly in December 2006, provides a powerful 
new impetus to promote the human rights of all 
children with disabilities. 
In spite of the almost universal ratification of the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the social 
and political mobilization that led to adoption of the 
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 
disabled children and their families continue to be 
confronted with daily challenges that compromise the 
enjoyment of their rights. Discrimination and exclu-
sion related to disabilities occur in all countries, in all 
sectors of society and across all economic, political, 
religious and cultural settings.