A conference "The 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Contemporary Challenges and Innovations in the Republic of Kazakhstan" will be held at the Kazakh Foreign Ministry on 4 December 2009 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the 15th anniversary of its ratification by Kazakhstan.

The Commissioner for Human Rights of Kazakhstan, the Prosecutor General''s Office, the Foreign Ministry, the Delegation of the European Union and the UN Children''s Fund in Kazakhstan are organizing the conference. The conference will look at the key landmarks in child rights, celebrate progress achieved in the past two decades as well as discuss modern challenges to the CRC in Kazakhstan, the European Commission Delegation to Kazakhstan said.

20 years ago, on 20 November 1989, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The CRC has become the most ratified human rights treaty in human history and it has transformed the way children are viewed and treated throughout the world. The Convention has 193 ratifications, the process by which countries decide to be bound by the articles of an international treaty. It articulates a set of universal children''s rights, such as the right to an identity, a name and a nationality, the right to an education, and rights to the highest possible standards of health and protection from abuse and exploitation.