Submitted by crinadmin on
Non-discrimination is an important principle of Child Rights Programming which is closely related to the principles of participation and accountability. It is often the lack of participation of rights holders and accountability of the key duty-bearers that perpetuates and reinforces discrimination. The Paper confirms the belief that many programmes in the region are ‘diversity-blind’ and do not actively address root causes of child rights violations such as patriarchal structures and unequal power relations. The Paper presents the right to not be discriminated as a human rights principle. It analyses the various international human rights instruments, including the UNCRC, CEDAW, CERD, ICCPR, ICESCR, UDHR and the governments’ obligations respectively. It explores the constitutional provisions of each country in South and Central Asia with regard to the principle of equality of all citizens. The Paper also examines how children who are discriminated against are excluded, oppressed and alienated, and its long term impact on children’s development. It attempts to bring out some of the issues in children’s own voices and how it affects them. The Paper offers recommendations for working to eliminate or combat discrimination. It provides general recommendations in areas of advocacy, capacity building, legislation reform, media, monitoring and research and information/documentation. It also provides recommendations applicable to specific thematic areas such as disability, caste and religion, child abuse and exploitation, gender, HIV and AIDS, IDPs and refugees, indigenous children, juvenile justice and sexual orientation.