Elsevier celebrates the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child

Oxford, November 19, 2009 – Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, announced today the publication of a freely available Special Issue of Child Abuse and Neglect The International Journal 1989-2009 on the 20th Anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The Special Issue aims to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It provides an overview of two decades of development in the areas of child maltreatment research, data collection, and reporting practice, as required by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and will facilitate information and practice exchange to support governments and professionals in their important efforts globally.

Guest Editors Yanghee Lee, Chairperson, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and Kimberly Svevo-Cianci, President of the Child Rights Protection Consultancy-International, commented: "This year is a landmark year for children. It marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of a legally binding human rights treaty—the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the 20th of November, 1989, and became enforceable from September 2 of 1990. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly referred to as CRC) is the first binding instrument in international law to deal with the rights of children. It is the most comprehensive treaty that contains 42 detailed provisions enshrining the rights of children in all areas of their lives, including economic, social and cultural rights, and civil and political rights, providing the highest level of international standards and guidelines for regional and national implementation. The CRC is the only international human rights treaty that has almost universal ratification. It currently has 193 ratifications, still with the exception of only two States: Somalia and USA".

Dan Morgan, Executive Publisher of Psychology at Elsevier commented "We are excited to be able to support this celebratory moment for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by opening up free access to this special issue for a year, highlighting contributions by such child rights and protection experts as Dr. Lee, Jaap Doek, past UN CRC Committee chairperson; Desmond Runyan, Professor, University of North Carolina; and Stuart Hart, Deputy Director, International Institute for Child Rights and Development, University of Victoria (Canada). With such a potential broad appeal for this important and timely issue, from the public to policymakers to researchers to social workers and NGO leaders, this should enable key access to valuable information on child rights and protection for all".

The Special Issue will be freely available online, to all, for a year, along with Part 2 of the Special Issue which will be published in January 2010. Part 1 can currently be accessed free at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/5847-2009-999669988-1554191 The guest co-editor, Kimberly Svevo-Cianci, is available for comment (+1 630 417 4567 ksvevocianci@gmail.com).

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including the Lancet (www.thelancet.com) and Cell (www.cell.com), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (www.scopus.com), Reaxys (www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (www.mdconsult.com) and Nursing Consult (www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (www.scival.com) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (www.medai.com), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier (www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (www.reedelsevier.com), a world-leading publisher and information provider. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Child Abuse & Neglect The International Journal, provides an international, multidisciplinary forum on all aspects of child abuse and neglect, with special emphasis on prevention and treatment; the scope extends further to all those aspects of life which either favor or hinder child development. While contributions will primarily be from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, medicine, nursing, law enforcement, legislature, education, and anthropology, the Journal encourages the concerned lay individual and child-oriented advocate organizations to contribute. It is the official publication of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN)

The International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, founded in 1977, is the only multidisciplinary international organization that brings together a worldwide cross-section of committed professionals to work towards the prevention and treatment of child abuse, neglect and exploitation globally. ISPCAN's mission is to prevent cruelty to children in every nation, in every form: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, street children, child fatalities, child prostitution, children of war, emotional abuse and child labor. ISPCAN is committed to increasing public awareness of all forms of violence against children, developing activities to prevent such violence, and promoting the rights of children in all regions of the world. ISPCAN invites you to join forces with its members around the world to protect children in need: their bodies, minds, hearts and rights. Learn about ISPCAN's goals, publications, congresses, professional training events and world-wide activities – visit http://www.ispcan.org