A/HRC/RES/27/15
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;
1
2
CRC/C/GC/17.