Introduction

Abstract

Children¹ and young persons the world over require special considerations and protections, due to their limited cognitive, emotional, and social development, as well as their relative lack of political power. However, a child’s arbitrary place of birth determines to a great measure the extent to which their basic needs will be met and their overall rights respected. The so-called North-South hemispheric divide, where the industrialized North possesses vastly greater access to resources and power than the developing South (Malone & Hagman, 2002), is nowhere more evident than in the area of children’s rights and children’s protection. Many children from the developing South face a myriad of hardships, including, inter alia, poverty, limited basic health care, illiteracy and restricted educational opportunities, hunger and malnutrition, abuse, exploitation, and discrimination. In addition, contexts of armed conflict and pandemics of diseases such as HIV/AIDS have greatly contributed to the unraveling of children’s social support networks and diminished their sense of safety and security. All of these circumstances, which are invariably shaped by children’s age, gender, ethnicity, mobility, and socioeconomic status, jeopardize their fundamental rights and protections.