Of course, governments must be sensitive to the rights of all their citizens not just to those of children. They have equal status with adults as members of the human family. Governments are morally obliged to recognize the full spectrum of human rights for all children. Using the Convention's definition of children as all human beings being below the age of 18, a large portion indeed of the world's population must be considered. The healthy development of children is crucial to the future well-being of any society.
Children start life as totally dependent beings.
Because they are still developing, children are especially vulnerable more so than adults to poor living conditions such as poverty, inadequate health care, nutrition, safe water, housing and environmental pollution and these conditions in turn jeopardize children's physical, mental and emotional development. The actions or inactions of government impact children more strongly than any other group in society. But in many countries throughout the world, policy-making fails to take children into account, threatening their futures. Such a short-sighted approach has a negative impact on the future of all members of society by giving rise to policies that cannot work. Children's views are rarely heard and rarely considered in the political process.