REPUBLIC ACT NO.

 7610
SPECIAL PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION ACT
(Promulgated June 17, 1992)

ARTICLE I. Title, Policy, Principles and Definitions of Terms

 It shall be the policy of the State to protect and rehabilitate children gravely threatened or endangered by
circumstances which affect or will affect their survival and normal development and over which they have no control.

 The best interests of children shall be the paramount consideration in all actions concerning them, consistent with the
principle of First Call for Children as enunciated in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.

In the Convention on the Rights of the Child, held in 20 November 1989, world leaders decided that children
needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and
protection that adults do not. The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; devotion
to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the
child.

Definition of Terms

1. Children
a. below eighteen (18) years of age
b. those over but are unable to fully take care of themselves because of a physical or mental disability or
condition

2. Child abuse - maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the child which includes any of the following:
a. Psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment;
b. Any act by deeds or words which debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as
a human being;
c. Unreasonable deprivation of his basic needs for survival, such as food and shelter; or
d. Failure to immediately give medical treatment to an injured child resulting in serious impairment of his
growth and development or in his permanent incapacity or death.

3. Circumstances which gravely threaten or endanger the survival and normal development of children:
a. Community with armed conflict
b. Hazardous working environment
c. Living in streets and area of extremely poor condition
d. Being a member of an indigenous cultural community
e. Being a man-made disaster victim
f. Other analogous circumstances

4.