The principle of the best interests of the child as a primary consideration
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child (November 20, 1989, hereinafter: the Convention on the Rights of the Child or the Convention), which the State of Israel signed and ratified in 1991, is based on the perception of the child as a complete and complex person entitled to human rights, including the right to life, dignity and equality. The starting point is the child himself, as a person and as an individual, and the recognition of his rights as an individual. Hence the general and comprehensive application of the Convention to all areas of life. The rights under the Convention are divided into four main categories or principles: the right to non-discrimination; Protection rights such as the child's right to protection from violence and abuse, provision rights such as the child's right to education and health, and participatory rights as the child's right to freedom of expression, information, and privacy. The Convention also emphasizes the dignity of the child, and the concept that children must be respected as human beings. The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides special protection for children in order to realize their right to family life and to preserve family unity (paragraph 5 of the preamble to the Convention and articles 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16 and 22). In order to ensure effective respect for children's rights, states may also have a positive obligation to take measures to ensure family unity.
- The Convention guarantees, inter alia (in Article 2), that the States Parties shall respect and guarantee the rights set forth in the Convention to every child within their jurisdiction, without discrimination, including on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, nationality, place of birth, or other status, whether of the child or of the child's parents. The principle of the best interests of the child, set out in Article 3 (1) of the Convention, is one of the basic principles on which the Convention is based:
"In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration"