Children, But Not Really Humans? Critical Reflections on the Hampering Effect of the "3 p's"

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Quennerstedt
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Rights Issues ◽  
Critical Reflections

AbstractIn this paper, the widespread use of the "3 p's", provision, protection and participation, to categorise children's rights is critically examined. This conceptualisation is argued to have hampering effects on research in children's rights, in that it frames the research in a problematic way and hinders the possibilities of attaining theoretically driven analyses. In the paper, the emergence and use of the 3 p's is first traced and discussed. Thereafter, an alternative language for constructing and analysing children's rights is proposed, namely the vocabulary used for general human rights: civil, political and social rights. When children's rights are placed within the development of human rights and conceptualised accordingly, a different understanding of the content of children's rights surfaces. The theoretical contextualisation that is then added is suggested as a way of approaching contradictions and conflicts surrounding children's rights issues with more theoretical depth and nuances.

Toward a More Youthful Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Richard P. Hiskes
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Rights Issues

This concluding chapter begins with a discussion of how the global coronavirus pandemic called attention to children’s rights issues, specifically in how children were not allowed to participate in decisions directly affecting their “best interests,” as required by CRC. Granting children human rights will fundamentally alter the nature of both democracy and human rights. Giving children citizenship rights will renew democracy, as past enfranchisements have, but also will push democracies to resemble less Western, liberal models. Group rights will predominate in democracies where children are full citizens. Also, the human rights agendas of child-incorporating democracies will be dominated by social and economic rights issues, since children’s rights of protection and provision will be given priority. Finally, children’s participation rights will emerge as crucial in diminishing structural inequality in democratic societies, providing a pathway to a fuller form of social justice predicated on the human rights of children.

scholarly journals Philosophy with Children: A Rights-based Approach to Deliberative Participation

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Cassidy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Practical Philosophy ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
Philosophical Dialogue ◽  
Rights Issues

In advancing children’s rights, and human rights more broadly, this article supports the view that participation through deliberation by children is desirable. Practising Philosophy with Children, through an approach such as Community of Philosophical Inquiry, is proposed as a powerful way forward as a rights-based means of supporting children to deliberate about matters affecting them in society. In considering that children are educated about, through and for rights, an example of children’s philosophical dialogue is provided to illustrate children deliberating on rights issues, and how teachers might use such dialogue to influence their teaching in this area. The suggestion is that participating in practical philosophy enables children to practise human rights behaviour as a means of participating beyond consultation exercises and as an approach to facilitating their engagement with ideas and issues that are important to the promotion of rights for all.

The child as a gendered rights holder

Childhood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-157
Author(s):  
Sara Frödén ◽  
Ann Quennerstedt
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Sexual Orientations ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Rights Issues

In this article, we call for a gendering of children’s rights by using an intersectional approach. First, age and gender in different theoretical frameworks are highlighted. Second, we demonstrate the interconnection of age and gender in United Nations human rights treaties and interpretation guidance. Third, current gendered rights issues are identified and new ones are proposed. Finally, we argue that further gendering of children’s rights is necessary to acknowledge issues relating to children with different gender, sexual orientations and ethnicities.

Citizenship and Rights of Children

2020 ◽  
pp. 221-236
Author(s):  
David B. Thronson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Central Factor ◽  
Family Unity

Citizenship plays a larger and more critical role in the life of children than it should. Children who lack citizenship are incredibly vulnerable to exploitation. In the migration context, a child’s citizenship can be largely determinative of where and with whom a child lives. Despite a modern children’s rights framework that recognizes the humanity and autonomy of children, citizenship and nationality still form an integral part of a child’s identity and play a critical role in a child’s development. It has a pervasive impact in securing other rights for children and can be a central factor in a child’s cultural and linguistic background, education, economic and environment exposures, and virtually all aspects of a child’s daily life. This chapter examines children’s right to citizenship and explores the ongoing crisis of statelessness that undermines these rights. It reviews the role that citizenship plays in both voluntary and forced migration of children, child-specific protections found in both universal and regional human rights frameworks, and the role of children’s citizenship in promoting family unity.

The Best Interests of the Child

2020 ◽  
pp. 203-221
Author(s):  
Wouter Vandenhole ◽  
Gamze Erdem Türkelli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
European Court ◽  
Elusive Concept

The best interests of the child principle is considered a pillar of children’s rights law and, according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is to be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children. Yet best interests is an elusive concept and principle that has no single authoritative definition or description. Internationally and domestically relevant in such diverse areas as family law, adoption, migration, and socioeconomic policymaking, the best interests principle requires flexibility and is best served by a case-by-case approach, as has been recognized by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the European Court of Human Rights. This chapter analyzes relevant international case law and suggests the use of a number of safeguards to prevent such requisite flexibility from presenting a danger of paternalism, bias, or misuse.

The Interrelated and Interdependent Nature of Children’s Rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-98
Author(s):  
Savitri Goonesekere
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Global Agenda

The chapter analyses children’s human rights as universal norms and standards incorporated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that are relevant in diverse national contexts. Discussing national experiences and the quasi-jurisprudence of treaty bodies, the chapter argues that understanding the interrelated nature of the different groups of rights in the CRC is essential for effective implementation of these rights. It is suggested that the concept of the indivisibility of human rights and the global agenda of sustainable development reinforce the need for this approach. The chapter also discusses the interdependence, compatibility, and conflict between children’s rights and the human rights of other groups, such as parents, women, and a community with which a child connects as he or she grows to adulthood. The chapter argues that incorporating children’s rights in national constitutions, rather than ad hoc legislation, encourages this holistic approach to implementing children’s rights.

Taking Children’s Human Rights Seriously

2020 ◽  
pp. 48-69
Author(s):  
Michael Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Ronald Dworkin ◽  
Philosophical Discussion ◽  
Persuasive Argument ◽  
The Law ◽  
Deficit View

Despite the development of the children’s rights movement, human rights scholarship continues to overlook the rights of children. Even those like Ronald Dworkin, who proclaim the need to take rights seriously, are curiously silent, even ambivalent, when it comes to children. This inattention often forces advocates of children’s rights to the margins of human rights scholarship. In the few places where serious philosophical discussion of children’s rights does take place, the analysis intends to diminish the value of rights for children. These critics are not malevolent, and typically want what is best for children, but they do not think it can be accomplished through a children’s rights agenda. This chapter lays out a persuasive argument for a children’s rights agenda, or, for taking children’s rights seriously. Drawing from philosophy, history, literature, popular media, and of course the law, this chapter argues against the conventional deficit view underlying most arguments against the recognition of children’s rights and makes a case for the importance of children’s rights where rights are the currency in use.

scholarly journals Children in Armed Conflict: A Human Rights Crisis in Somalia

Global Jurist ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador Santino Jr. Fulo Regilme ◽  
Elisabetta Spoldi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
False Sense ◽  
Alternative Sources

Abstract Despite the consolidated body of public international law on children’s rights and armed conflict, why do armed rebel groups and state forces deploy children in armed conflict, particularly in Somalia? First, due to the lack of alternative sources of income and livelihood beyond armed conflict, children join the army due to coercive recruitment by commanders of armed groups. Their participation in armed conflict generates a fleeting and false sense of material security and belongingness in a group. Second, many Somali children were born in an environment of existential violence and material insecurity that normalized and routinized violence, thereby motivating them to view enlistment in armed conflict as morally permissible and necessary for existential survival.

scholarly journals Children’s Rights in the Indonesian Oil Palm Industry: Improving Company Respect for the Rights of the Child

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 500
Author(s):  
Stephany Iriana Pasaribu ◽  
Frank Vanclay
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Child Labor ◽  
Palm Oil ◽  
Oil Palm ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Social License

Although companies have many direct and indirect impacts on the lives of children, discussion of the responsibility of business to respect the rights of children has primarily focused on child labor. Using UNICEF’s Children’s Rights and Business Principles as a framework for our analysis, we considered the activities of oil palm plantation companies operating in Indonesia. Our data come from key informant interviews and reflection on two programs established to promote respect for children’s rights in the Indonesian palm oil industry: one by Pusat Kajian Perlindungan Anak (PKPA) (Center for Child Study and Protection); and one by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in conjunction with UNICEF. We considered: how plantation company activities impacted children’s lives; how companies demonstrated respect for children’s rights; and how observance of children’s rights can be improved. We discuss four problematic issues: getting company commitments to children’s rights into policy and practice; having a strong business case for respecting human rights and children’s rights; contradictory objectives within companies; and complexities around children in the workplace. We argue that a children’s rights based approach should be applied to the activities of all organizations. This children’s rights lens is needed to overcome the invisibility of children in society and industry, and to address the root causes of human rights harms. We note that respecting children’s rights will likely contribute to getting a social license to operate and grow.

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