United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
opened
for
signature
in 1979.
Came into
force 1989
only Somali
and usa not
signed
USA ARGUE IT GOES
AGAINST NATIONAL
SOVERIGNTY OF
INDIVIDUAL STATES
54 legally binding articles based on
chronological age
1)health,
2)education,
3)nationality,4)family
5)the right to partake
in decision making
EDUCATION
CHILDREN
HAVE THE
RIGHT TO GO
TO SCHOOL, NO
CONTRARTING
RIGHT OF NOT
NEEDING TO
ATTEND
can be linked with child work
JENS QVORTRUP: for
children education is
productive work - they are
future educated workforce (book 3)
decision making
shaping their environment is one way this happens
Non Government Organisations
concerned for working
children India. The child
worker is able to define and
research concerns that
shape their every day life
HEALTH
ensure the development and
survival of the child
child has the right to
enjoy highest
attainable standard of
health and health
care facilities
Family
children's rights are best protected within families
these are not
negotiable at local
level
children's
rights are
human rights
children are equal to adults
MICHAEL FREEMAN - UNCRC
shifted the intervention in
children's lives from protection
to autonomy
based on
premise that
children need
special
protection
link with the romantics,
Rousseau, social
construction childhood is
seperate
the terms rights and
duties do not feature in
the UNCRC in realtion to
children only in reference
to parents
UNCRC'S belief that the a person is an autonomous individual doesn't easily translate
into other societies where children are see as parent's dependants and sometimes their
property (BK 4)
ERICA BURMAN (1996)
African Charter on
the rights and
welfare of the child
1990 (bk 4)
stresses the rights and
duties of the child
both adults and
children have
duties
deals with culturally
relevant issues within
Africa
children are expected to
care for their parents,
communities and Africa
itself
CULTURAL RELATIVISM (bk 1)
UNCRC from an anthropological standpoint
fails to consider the role of local
perspectives in defining rights and what
childhood is
Anthropologists are
uneasy about universal
model of childhood based
on chronological age and
idea that everyone under
18 is a child