Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

There are four guiding principles outlined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) that are necessary for all rights to be realized:

1. Non-discrimination:

   Requires States to ensure that all children within their jurisdiction enjoy rights without discrimination of any kind;

2. Adherence to the best interests of the child:

   Requires States to ensure that the central consideration of all decisions or actions concerning children, whether by courts, administrative offices, legislatures, public or private welfare agencies, or others are in the best interests of the child;

3. The right to life, survival, and development:

   Requires States to ensure the survival and development of the child to the maximum extent possible, including positive measures; and

4. The right to participate:

   Requires States to ensure that children can express their views freely in all matters affecting them.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) requires that:

1. States shall take all necessary measures to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children;
2. The best interests of the child is the primary consideration in matters affecting children with disabilities;
3. Children with disabilities have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, given due weight to their age and maturity; and
4. Children with disabilities are to be provided with disability and age-appropriate assistance to realize their rights.

Other specific provisions in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD):

1. States are required to enact child-focused legislation and policies, to ensure that instances of exploitation, violence, and abuse are identified, investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted.
2. States are required to register children with disabilities immediately after birth and to guarantee their right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality, and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents.

3. States are required to ensure that:

   1. children with disabilities retain their fertility on an equal basis with others,
   2. a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except in accordance with legal procedures where such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child, and that in no case shall a child be separated from parents on the basis of a disability of either the child or one or both of the parents. Where children with disabilities are separated from their family, the CRPD emphasizes that States shall make every effort to provide alternative care within the wider family, and failing that, within the community in a family setting.
   3. children with disabilities may not be excluded from free and compulsory primary education, or from secondary education, on the basis of disability.