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A Commentary
Editor:
The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly marked a groundbreaking moment in the field of international law. Not only would it start to move away from its original conception as an exclusively State-centered domain: it would also mark the progressive transformation of international into a law for humankind. This instrument started a codification and institution-building process that would slowly evolve into a complex framework of treaties, bodies and procedures revolving around the protection of the human being against the actions – or omissions – of the State. This commentary provides a specific analysis and reflection of how each one of the rights enshrined therein have evolved over time.
A Commentary
Editor:
The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly marked a groundbreaking moment in the field of international law. Not only would it start to move away from its original conception as an exclusively State-centered domain: it would also mark the progressive transformation of international into a law for humankind. This instrument started a codification and institution-building process that would slowly evolve into a complex framework of treaties, bodies and procedures revolving around the protection of the human being against the actions – or omissions – of the State. This commentary provides a specific analysis and reflection of how each one of the rights enshrined therein have evolved over time.
Author:
Abstract
In this paper I discuss an approach I have termed, “Child as method”, which I suggest provides some useful perspectives on child rights debates and concerns, specifically in connecting these with the realm of the geopolitical and, beyond that, insisting on how such connections deepens understanding of their significance. Building on previous work examining the relations and “translation” processes between global and local in the (re)formulation and implementation of child rights instruments, a conceptualisation of geopolitical context is presented as constitutive of the range of theories and practices surrounding child rights, and vice versa. The feminist and postcolonial conceptual resources informing Child as method are outlined, with examples offered of specific projects that have used this in child rights-related work. It is suggested that, far from diminishing the relevance and utility of Child as method, the non-child-centred assumptions underlying this approach might helpfully promote ways of working with and for children and young people, based on solidarity rather than, for example, the discretionary humanism structured within prevailing notions of recognition or identification.
Author:
Abstract
The international community first responded to child soldiering by embracing within law and policy a narrative that saw child soldiers largely as passive victims. Empirical work with child soldiers has since revealed a more complex picture of children’s agency and actual experiences. From this work, a more recent narrative – which I call the political actor narrative – has taken shape within scholarly work on child soldiers. While the former narrative may be wrong to universalise the condition of all child soldiers as passive victims, the latter narrative is limited in what it can tell us about how child soldiering affects moral character development. I argue that we have good reason to seek a more comprehensive narrative that mixes elements of the passive victim and political actor narratives into a new narrative that provides resources for character-based normative analysis, and I show how virtue ethics provides the conceptual resources to do this.
Abstract
The present study synthesises published investigations into children’s involvement in the judicial child protection, family and, as victims and witnesses, in criminal proceedings, their perceptions and attitudes relative to their experience, and to each specific context in which they participated. Using the prisma Statement, we consulted five electronic databases (B-On, pbsc, asc, PsycInfo, and medline) to examine relevant studies (empirical, systematic reviews and meta-analyses), and we defined inclusion/exclusion criteria. We included 13 studies in the present review, published between 1992 and 2020 and carried out in different judicial contexts (criminal, protection, and family), to which we applied a methodological quality assessment instrument. From the main evidence of each study, we carried out an integrative synthesis. The findings identified children’s perceptions and attitudes towards the justice system, what they considered the most positive and the most negative aspects of their involvement, and the specificities of each judicial context. Implications for practice and further research were considered.
Author:
Abstract
Child participation is considered crucial for the authorities’ ability to protect children from violence – yet children’s actual participation is limited, and participation and protection rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are often understood as opposites. This article aims to explore children’s rights to participation and protection against violence in Swedish social services’ handling of violence against children. Child welfare reports, investigations and child social records, were analysed using quantitative content analysis and thematic analysis. Insufficient conditions for child participation and poor access to protection and support were indicated. Upon closer analysis of cases that did not lead to protection or support, different aspects of an overarching theme, The Protection Paradox, were identified, which meant protection against participation or unprotected autonomy.
Abstract
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended that Aotearoa New Zealand ban unnecessary and unconsented surgery on intersex children. Yet, the overall number of surgeries being undertaken on the genital and reproductive organs of children remains largely unchanged. Neither is it clear how many surgeries were undertaken on intersex children and what information and explanations were given to children and their families as to why the surgery was necessary. Culturally sensitive, medical, psychosocial and legal research must inform decision-making around surgical interventions on children with variations in sex characteristics, in order to realise the rights of intersex children in Aotearoa New Zealand.