What does the International Convention on the Rights of the Child say about article 27?

That every child has the right to adequate standards of living that are necessary to assure their physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. All parents have the responsibility of guaranteeing that they have this standard of living, but the State should also enable them to assume this responsibility. Therefore, if parents become bankrupt, they should be provided with the necessary aid, particularly for diet, clothing and lodging.

Article 27 also has a paragraph on the provision of food allowances in order to ensure this standard of living, for example, when the parents live in 2 different countries and international cooperation is necessary.

What does this mean?

When looking at the different areas mentioned in article 27, it can be noted that the standards of living as defined by the Convention are a fundamental concept because they cover all the aspects of a child’s life.

In order to ensure the proper physical development of a child, should he not be able to eat when he is hungry (see in particular the files on hunger, nutrition, mother’s milk, etc)? Should he not be in good health, vaccinated, protected against bad practices (see in particular the files on cigarettes, drugs, obesity, pesticides, etc.)? Does he not have the right to rest (see the case file)? To sport, etc.?

For their mental development, in addition to what is stated in the previous paragraph, do they not need to be stimulated, to have access to play, to education, to leisure, to reflection, to creation as artists or as avid explorers, etc.?

For their spiritual and moral development, can they have love, respect, access to information, culture, etc.? Can they go on to dream, to think that anything is possible, that tomorrow will be better than today and that they can actively contribute to it?

Finally, in order to develop into a social being, is there not an imperative need for them to be in contact with others, cooperate, interact, discuss, understand that they have a place in society and slowly discover it, etc.?

All the aspects, and others, are defined by article 27 as ‘adequate standards of living’.

How does CyberDodo summarise the right to sufficient ‘standards of living’?

These are the conditions to respect to help a child freely express his full potential.

What prevents hundreds of millions of children from having sufficient standards of living?

Underlying this response is a common theme in the files that CyberDodo has devoted to the suffering caused to children: poverty.

With the unacceptable greed existing between rich countries and poor countries, the same as in ‘developed’ countries, millions of children do not have a sufficient standard of living in order to develop harmoniously.

However, when a child is, for example, threatened by death of famine, illness or ill treatment, the concept of the standard of living is tragically replaced by that of his right to life, respect and health.

In addition to poverty, the place given to children in society is equally one of the major causes which often stops children from having ‘sufficient standards of living’. We will explain ourselves...

The child is seen by many adults and structures as a body with in fact very simple needs: to eat, to sleep, to dress, etc. All the necessary concepts (See the file on this), which are anything but sufficient. If a child were seen as the adult of tomorrow, as the next generation, who is going to make decisions, who is going to preside over the destinies of our world, should we not consider him as deserving more consideration?

These primary needs should be effectively satisfying (See the file on the higher interests of the child) but there are many others! And who says ‘needs’, says ‘rights’, those that the Convention acknowledges that they have, it’s come full circle.

To see the cartoon on the standards of living, click here

To see the game on the standards of living, click here

To do the quiz, click here

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