Defence for Children International (DCI) is an independent non-governmental organisation set up during the International Year of the Child (1979) to ensure on-going, practical, systematic and concerted international and national action specially directed towards promoting and protecting the rights of the child, as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Nigel Cantwell was one of its founders and its current president is Rifat Odeh Kassis from the Palestinian Territories.
DCI's International Secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland. It currently has 48 national sections and associated members and a representation at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
DCI is therefore active on a global, regional, national and local level. On a global level it focuses its efforts on lobbying, child rights advocacy, monitoring of the implementation of the UNCRC by State Parties and acting as a facilitator for the exchange of information and experience of its national sections. The national sections work on various child rights issues, adapting their focus to the specific needs of the children in their respective countries. Their main areas of work are child labour, juvenile justice, child prostitution, children in armed conflict and child rights' education.
As are other major human rights organisations, it is a member of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and Child Rights Information Network.
DCI has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, UNICEF, UNESCO and the Council of Europe.