We fight for children's rights

Freedom from Violence. Freedom from abuse is a basic right. All forms of violence and abuse damage children's happiness, security and safety, sometimes for life. Save the Children works to end violence and abuse against children. (Copyright: International Save the Children Alliance)

Save the Children has been championing children’s rights since 1919 when our founder, Eglantyne Jebb, urged the public to "claim certain rights for children and labour for their universal recognition."

This vision was finally realised in 1989 when the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly. The adoption of the CRC established an international framework for the treatment of all children and created a greater global commitment to safeguarding their rights. New Zealand adopted the CRC in 1993.

All of our work is underpinned by the principles laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UN Convention says that children have a right to life, good health, education, a safe home, participation in decision-making and protection from abuse and exploitation.

Children’s rights are the backbone of Save the Children’s work. We believe that when rights are put into action, children’s lives change for the better. For us, putting rights into action has two components; projects and advocacy. We support many projects, both internationally and here in New Zealand. Find out more under where we work .

In parallel with our project work, Save the Children lobbies governments and the international community, highlighting failures in public policy and practice which represent violations of children's rights. Advocacy is an integral part of our work in New Zealand.

Here's a snapshot of the some of the projects we support:

In Papua New Guinea, where infant mortality rates are among the highest in the world, Save the Children New Zealand manages a project that trains local women to provide health information and basic medical treatment to people in their community. In 2004/05, 400 of these volunteers delivered over 60,000 essential medical consultations to children and their families in remote parts of Papua New Guinea.

In Southern India, we’re ensuring low-caste ‘Coolie’ children receive an education by supporting the setting up and running of children’s centres (Balakendra). These centres provide additional tuition for children who are struggling to keep up at school and can’t get support at home because their parents are illiterate. Before the centres opened, only 20 percent of Coolie children passed the national board exam and advanced their education; now 99 percent of Coolie children are passing the exam – and have hope for a brighter future.

In Kenya, where 2.6 million people are HIV positive, we work in an area where 40,000 children fit that description. In 2004/05, we helped to train 100 young people as peer educators to reach out to over 1200 young people and prevent infection of the next generation. We also fund drug and nutritional therapy for terminally ill patients and support a small loan scheme, which enables HIV positive people to earn in income and support their families.

Here in New Zealand we support local organisations that work in the best interests of children with our Small Grants Fund.

Money to support this work comes from the public and the New Zealand Government. Save the Children New Zealand has the support of thousands of volunteers who raise funds to support our work. We're very grateful for their help.