A question of commitment Howe, Robert Brian; Covell, Katherine
A question of commitment,
2020, 2020-04-09
eBook
With the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), commentators began to situate the evolution of the status of children within the context of the "property to ...persons" trajectory that other human rights stories had followed. In the first edition of A Question of Commitment, editors R. Brian Howe and Katherine Covell provided a template of analysis for understanding this evolution. They identified three overlapping stages of development as children transitioned from being regarded as objects to subjects in their own right: social laissez-faire, paternalistic protection, and children's rights. In the social laissez-faire stage, children are regarded as objects, and largely as the property of parents. In the paternalistic protection stage, children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection. The children's rights stage lays emphasis on children as rights-bearers, as individuals in their own right with entitlements. In this second edition, new essays assess the extent to which children's rights have been incorporated into their respective areas of policy and law. The authors draw conclusions about what the situation reveals about the status of children in Canada. Overall, many challenges remain on the pathway to full recognition and citizenship.
Abstract
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child sets the gold standard for the rights of children and young people, placing the obligation on States parties to ensure their ...realisation. Since most children live in families, recognising their rights has implications for other family members, particularly their parents.
Article 5 creates a framework for balancing the rights and obligations of the parties - the child, the parents and the state - in this triangular relationship, requiring States parties to respect the right of parents to direct and guide the child in the exercise of Convention rights. Yet other Convention provisions address the parties' roles, calling into question the need for Article 5.
This article sets the scene for those that follow in this issue, exploring what the drafters of the Convention were seeking to achieve in Article 5 and highlighting issues that proved controversial, before focussing on the work of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to drill down into its content and address its place in the Convention.
Does Exactly What it Says on the Tin? Hanson, Karl; Lundy, Laura
The International journal of children's rights,
08/2017, Letnik:
25, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The four general principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child are one of its most cited features. This article tracks the evolution of the "general principles" in the drafting process of ...the Convention and the Committee's determination of the content of its 1991 reporting guidelines. This is followed by an analysis of the approach to the "general principles" that the Committee has adopted in its monitoring and reporting processes and General Comments. It concludes that these four articles are not necessarily "general" nor "principles" and suggests how the concept of a set of cross-cutting standards might evolve and perhaps be reformulated in ways that are faithful to both the text of the Convention and subsequent understanding and practice.
The book contains four studies that compare experiences from countries with similar legal traditions and examine how the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been integrated and harmonized with ...national legislation in specific countries. The book demonstrates how the CRC can be implemented in different country contexts in an effort to achieve children's rights uniformly across widely divergent legal traditions. It highlights key developments, identifies trends, and draws general conclusions that provide insight into the legal traditions at issue for advocacy in relationship to the implementation of the CRC, as well as to encourage practical actions. The book proposes a framework for enhancing compatibility of national legislation with human rights instruments and with the CRC in particular. The book endeavors to emphasize the CRC's ideology of indivisibility of rights, solidarity, and partnership in realizing children's rights. The book is a powerful advocacy tool for supporting the implementation of the CRC and Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
To what extent are global rule-of-law norms, which external actors promote in post-conflict states, localized? Who decides whether global standards or local particularities prevail? This book offers ...a new approach to the debate about how the dilemma between the diffusion of global norms and their localization is dealt with in global politics. Studying the promotion of children's rights, access to public information, and an international commission against impunity in Guatemala, Lisbeth Zimmermann demonstrates that rule-of-law promotion triggers domestic contestation and thereby changes the approach taken by external actors, and ultimately the manner in which global norms are translated. However, the leeway in local translation is determined by the precision of global norms. Based on an innovative theoretical approach and an in-depth study of rule-of-law translation, Zimmermann argues for a shift in norm promotion from context sensitivity to democratic appropriation, speaking to scholars of international relations, peacebuilding, democratization studies, international law, and political theory.
Recently, the New South Wales Attorney General indicated that section 61AA of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) is working as intended by meeting its policy objectives and, therefore, parental corporal ...punishment will remain legal even in the face of ongoing advocacy for its repeal. This Brief argues that society has moved on and that corporal punishment and the defence of lawful correction do not enjoy the same level of support that they did more than two decades ago when the criminal law was amended to include s 61AA, and it is time to repeal this provision.
Comparative law in general and comparative constitutional law in particular is a thriving field of legal scholarship in many states. The basic idea of investigating and studying the norms and ...institutions of other societies has been used to draw good practices and lessons that can assist in resolving contemporary political, social and legal problems in a particular society. While it is true that the use of comparative law in domestic jurisdictions should be socially and culturally grounded, it has been instrumental for developing optimal normative standards in many states. This includes an increasing academic interest to understand the normative and institutional challenges of different polities in order to entrench constitutional democracy and enhance the protection of fundamental rights. Nevertheless, there is also a significant misconception and overstated criticism on the use of comparative law by many scholars. This is all the more evident when it comes to the legal practice in Ethiopia. In this article, I analyze the different arguments presented for and against the use of the comparative method, and argue that there is a continued relevance of comparative constitutional law in Ethiopian legal practice. The fledgling jurisprudence and growing reliance of Ethiopian courts on international human rights law in some of their cases is testament to the continued relevance of international and comparative law in Ethiopia.
This article explores children's understanding of the role that neighbourhood plays in their health and well-being. Whilst evidence exists on the relationship between the environment and children's ...health, we have little knowledge of this from the perspective of children themselves. Children's experiences are all too frequently researched through the eyes of adults. Following a Rights of the Child framework, respecting children's views and giving them due weight, this paper reports from a project that worked with children from two relatively deprived urban neighbourhoods in Scotland. Using this framework, the children themselves were the researchers who designed the themes, decided upon the methods, conducted the research and analysed the resulting data. Using focus groups, visual mapping and community walks the children explored their local neighbourhoods and the findings reveal features of the environment that the children perceive as important for their health and well-being. The children selected three themes to explore in the research: safety, littering, and family and friends, through which they elicit their experiences, feelings and attitudes towards the environment and their well-being. The paper reveals that not only do the children have a deep understanding of the link between environment and health, but that they also understand how aspects of disadvantage, including place-based stigma, can limit their social participation and inclusion in society. We conclude with recommendations made by the children themselves, ranging from access to affordable activities, improved open spaces, ‘support not stigma’ and the need to be heard in local decision making.
•Children understand the relationship between neighbourhoods and health.•Three key themes were highlighted: safety, littering and family and friends.•Place-based stigma and exclusion may limit children's social participation.•The ‘in place’ experiences of children are important for health research.•Children can play a role in creating places to improve their health and well-being.
The phrase "evolving capacities of the child" appears twice in the uncrc, under articles 5 and 14(2) in the framework of parental guidance. Yet the term "evolving capacities" appears over 80 times in ...the General Comments of the crc Committee. This paper examines the Committee's use of "evolving capacities" in its General Comments, suggesting that the term has been treated as an enabling principle, an interpretative principle, and a policy principle within the framework of the uncrc. A broad principle of evolving capacities has thus emerged under the uncrc that informs not only the framework of parental guidance, but the whole of the Convention. However, the crc Committee does not recognise "evolving capacities" as a general principle or otherwise under the uncrc. This paper examines why this might be, and concludes that more consideration needs to be given to the role of "evolving capacities" as a principle under the uncrc.
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