RES/27/15 The right of the child to engage in play and recreational activities

GE.CRC/C/GC/17. 4-17811 (E)

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Human Rights Council Twenty-seventh session

Agenda item 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,

political, economic, social and cultural rights,

including the right to development

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council

27/15

The right of the child to engage in play and recreational activities

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relevant international

human rights instruments,

Emphasizing that the Convention on the Rights of the Child constitutes the standard

in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, and bearing in mind the

importance of the Optional Protocols thereto, as well as other human rights standards,

Welcoming the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the

Rights of the Child,

Recalling in particular article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

which outlines the right of the child to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate

to the age of the child,

Recalling specifically article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities, which stipulates the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal

basis with others in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport,

Recalling relevant International Labour Organization conventions with respect to

child labour,

Reaffirming all previous relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights,

the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly on the rights of the child,

Welcoming the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and taking note

with interest of its general comment No. 17 (2013),1

Recalling General Assembly resolutions 67/17 of 28 November 2012, on sport as a

means to promote education, health, development and peace, in which the Assembly

stressed the use of sport as a vehicle to strengthen education, including physical education,

for children and young persons, and 67/296 of 23 August 2013, in which the Assembly

proclaimed 6 April as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace,

Bearing in mind that the survival, protection, growth and development of children in

good physical and emotional health are the foundations of human dignity and human rights,

and that play has been proven essential to the emotional and physical health and well-being

of the child, as well as for the development of creativity, imagination, self-confidence and

self-efficacy,

Acknowledging the fundamental importance of the right of children to engage in

play and recreational activities for their well-being, health and development,

Reaffirming that, with regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States should

take steps to ensure the allocation of available resources to the maximum extent possible

and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation,

1. Encourages States to take specific measures to respect, protect, promote and

fulfil the right of the child to engage in play and recreational activities, and in particular:

(a) To strengthen the evidence base of data and information on how play and

recreational activities, including sport, are critical elements that support the development

and well-being of the child;

(b) To position play and recreational activities as both a right of the child and a

means to secure children’s entitlement to optimum development;

(c) To affirm the importance of the right of the child to engage in self-directed

and non-compulsory play, initiated by children themselves;

(d) To introduce or revise national and local legislation, policies, regulations and

guidelines to guarantee sufficient access to play and recreational activities for every child,

regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic

or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status;

(e) To adopt measures aimed at reducing the necessity for children living in

poverty to work, in order to enable them to enjoy their right to engage in play and

recreational activities;

(f) To establish, where appropriate, frameworks and minimum standards of care

and protection for children participating in play and recreational activities, including sport,

to protect children from potential harm;

(g) To establish safety and accessibility standards for all play and recreational

facilities, toys and games equipment in order to ensure the protection of children from

recreational material that might be injurious to their health and well-being;

(h) To address social norms that attach low value to the right to engage in play

and recreational activities by raising public awareness of its significance;

(i) To provide guidance and support to parents and caregivers on how to create

safe and inclusive environments that facilitate children’s play and recreational activities,

including on their responsible use of digital technology;

(j) To strengthen the digital inclusion of children and to ensure that all

legislative and policy measures governing the Internet take into consideration their best

interests, including by promoting their safety and protecting them from cyberbullying,

pornography, cybergrooming and other harmful content or practices, as well as by

educating them on the responsible use of digital technology;

(k) To work to ensure the provision of adequate space to facilitate safe and

inclusive play and recreational activities, including in schools and communities;

(l) To promote the provision of a school curriculum that allows for sufficient

opportunity for play and recreational activities, including physical education and sport;

2. Also encourages States to ensure that effective, safe and child-sensitive

counselling, reporting and complaints mechanisms are accessible to all children, that they

pursue the best interests of the child at all times and that they comply with international

human rights standards;

3. Further encourages States to take active measures to restore and protect the

right of the child to engage in play and recreational activities in forced displacement, post-

conflict and disaster situations, with a view to promoting resilience and psychological

healing;

4. Encourages international cooperation in the realization of the right of the

child to engage in play and recreational activities through the active engagement of States,

United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, civil society organizations and other

international, national and local partners;

5. Recommends that the celebration of the International Day of Sport for

Development and Peace emphasize, through specific events, the right of the child to engage

in play and recreational activities.

39th meeting

25 September 2014

[Adopted without a vote.]