Initially launched at the WAIMH Congress in 2014, WAIMH have now published their position paper on the Rights of the Infant.
“We, as professionals and members of the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) who work with infants and parents within different cultures and societies, affirm that there is a need to recognize specific Rights of Infants, beyond those which have already been specified in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, adopted 1990). We fully support the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child, and the subsequent document from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment Number 7, published in 2005, concerning the implementation of children’s rights in early childhood. We affirm that the UNCRC in addressing the rights of children, does not sufficiently differentiate the needs of infants and toddlers from those of older children, in that infants and toddlers are totally dependent upon the availability of consistent and responsive care from specific adults for the adequate development of their basic human capacities. There are unique considerations regarding the needs of infants during the first three years of life which are highlighted by contemporary knowledge, underscoring the impact of early experience on the development of human infant brain and mind”
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