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International Human Rights of Children pp 3–29Cite as

The Human Rights of Children: An Introduction

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Part of the book series: International Human Rights ((IHR))

Abstract

The road to the recognition of the human rights of children started with the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1924) followed by the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959). Following a summary of the background and content of these declarations, the focus of this chapter will be on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC 1989) and why a separate treaty on the human rights of children was (and still is) necessary. The chapter then offers remarks on the ratification of and reservations to the CRC, its structure and important features such as the four General Principles, the recognition of the responsibilities of parents, the growing autonomy of the child, and cultural sensitivity. Attention will also be given to the three Optional Protocols to the CRC and some regional treaties on children’s rights. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child will then be addressed with attention to its monitoring role, its publishing of General Comments, the organization of Days of General Discussion, and the challenges facing the Committee. Finally, the implementation of the CRC will be discussed with some remarks on the progress made, the current major topics under the CRC, their challenges, and the possible contribution the implementation of the CRC can make to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals set for 2030.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Rule 169 deals with a son guilty of a grave fault which should rightfully deprive him of the filial relation. In that case the father should forgive him the first time; but if the son is guilty of a grave fault a second time the father may deprive his son of all filial relation.

  2. 2.

    There is an interesting timeline of children’s rights presented on Wikipedia which does not mention the Children’s Rights Movement or its leading authors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_young_people’s_rights_in_the_United_States.

  3. 3.

    Wright Edelman was the co-founder and first executive director of this organization.

  4. 4.

    The views of this child liberation proponents were criticized by Purdy (1994).

  5. 5.

    Remarkably, UNICEF did not submit any comment.

  6. 6.

    The members of the Working Group were representatives of states which were members of the UN Commission on Human Rights. The membership of this Commission rotated and thus affected the continuity of the membership of the Working Group. However, some countries, such as Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK, and the USSR, were represented by the same person throughout, this person often with expertise in the field of children’s rights. This resulted in what was described as a “family atmosphere” that made working together far easier (Cantwell 1992). An example of this atmosphere was the “pea-soup” meeting organized by Simone Ek (a representative of Save the Children) during the meetings of the Working Group, attended by representatives of states and NGO and a welcome opportunity to discuss informally the draft articles under consideration as I know from my own experience.

  7. 7.

    Langlaude (2008) provides a critical analysis of the CRC Committee’s monitoring of the implementation of Article 14.

  8. 8.

    See Detrick (1992) for the full record of participation by states and others to the meetings of the Working Group.

  9. 9.

    Taiwan published its first report on the implementation of the CRC in November 2016 which will be examined by an Independent Committee of experts in November 2017.

  10. 10.

    ICCPR adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 and entered into force on 23 March 1976 in accordance with Article 49; ICESCR adopted by the same resolution on the same date and entered into force on 3 January 1976 in accordance with Article 27. The UDHR was adopted and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly resolution 217A (III) of 10 December 1948.

  11. 11.

    Michael Freeman has been and still is the most consistent advocate for the importance of children’s rights and the need to take these rights seriously. See inter alia Freeman (1997, 2007, 2011).

  12. 12.

    See for the implementation of article CRC Committee (2011).

  13. 13.

    For examples and more information on this topic, see, e.g., Gal and Duramy (2015) and a special issue of the International Journal of Children’s Rights (2007) (Vol. 15, No. 1) on Children as Social Actors.

  14. 14.

    See UN General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/48/157) in 1993 requesting the Secretary General to conduct the Study and the Report presented in November 1996 UN Doc A/51/306 and the follow-up report (Machel 2001).

  15. 15.

    This involvement started in 1999 (see UN Doc S/RES/1261), and in 2005 the Security Council established the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) monitoring grave violations such as recruiting and using children in armed conflict, rape, and other forms of sexual violence against children and attacks against schools and hospitals; see for more http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/securitycouncilwg.html.

  16. 16.

    See for the Third Congress http://www.ecpat.net/WorldCongressIII/PDF/Outcome/WCIII_outcome_Document_Final.pdf.

  17. 17.

    See about this protection also the ECOSOC (2005), and for more information on the content of the OPSC, see UNICEF (2009).

  18. 18.

    For information about the work of the special rapporteur, see M’jid (2013).

  19. 19.

    It entered into force on 8 March 2014 in accordance with Art. 18 para. 1 (after ten ratifications).

  20. 20.

    See about this Optional Protocol inter alia Lee (2010) and Smith (2013).

  21. 21.

    In 1979, the International Year of the Child, the Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Welfare of the African Child (OAU 1979).

  22. 22.

    See also the EU Directive 2011/92 of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography with provisions to a large degree similar to those in the Lanzarote Convention but with one important difference: the Directive is binding for all EU member states and requires legislative and other measures necessary to comply with the Directive within 2 years (Art. 27).

  23. 23.

    Article 45 of the CRC is the only provision in a human treaty that explicitly mentions a specialized UN agency, in this case UNICEF.

  24. 24.

    See, for the CRC, CRC Committee (2015); for the OPSC, CRC Committee (2005); and for the OPAC, CRC Committee (2007).

  25. 25.

    This two-chamber practice requires additional budget which must be approved by the UN General Assembly. This is not easy and requires extensive lobbying.

  26. 26.

    See for more information: http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org.

  27. 27.

    Forty-four European countries contain provisions relating to children or their rights (ECDL 2014).

  28. 28.

    See also target 5.2 of the SDGs: eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres.

  29. 29.

    It should be noted that the different worst forms of child labor not only include the recruitment and use of child soldiers but also the use, procuring, or offering a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography, or for pornographic performances (Art. 3, ILO Convention 182). It is remarkable that these worst forms of child labor are not mentioned in target 8.7

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leiden Law School, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Jaap E. Doek

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  1. Jaap E. Doek
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Correspondence to Jaap E. Doek .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Ursula Kilkelly

  2. Leiden Law School, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Ton Liefaard

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Doek, J.E. (2019). The Human Rights of Children: An Introduction. In: Kilkelly, U., Liefaard, T. (eds) International Human Rights of Children. International Human Rights. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4184-6_1

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