scholarly journals Judicial Enforcement of Children’s Socio-Economic Rights: Possible Effects on Child Poverty in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sophie Macaulay
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
Poverty Levels

<p>This paper explores the idea of judicially enforceable socio-economic rights for children in New Zealand. Child poverty is an issue that has received increasing attention in New Zealand in recent years, and judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights for children is one way in which children’s socio-economic rights might be better realised. This paper identifies New Zealand’s international obligations towards children and draws on the work of children’s rights theorists. It argues that children are a unique category of rights-holders, and that this justifies prioritisation of judicial enforcement of their socio-economic rights. It explores the different ways in which courts have approached socio-economic rights enforcement, and makes a proposal as to how this might work in New Zealand. It concludes that the effect of judicial enforcement of children’s socio-economic rights on child poverty levels in New Zealand will depend on the type of remedy the courts choose to implement.</p>

scholarly journals Judicial Enforcement of Children’s Socio-Economic Rights: Possible Effects on Child Poverty in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sophie Macaulay
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
Poverty Levels

<p>This paper explores the idea of judicially enforceable socio-economic rights for children in New Zealand. Child poverty is an issue that has received increasing attention in New Zealand in recent years, and judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights for children is one way in which children’s socio-economic rights might be better realised. This paper identifies New Zealand’s international obligations towards children and draws on the work of children’s rights theorists. It argues that children are a unique category of rights-holders, and that this justifies prioritisation of judicial enforcement of their socio-economic rights. It explores the different ways in which courts have approached socio-economic rights enforcement, and makes a proposal as to how this might work in New Zealand. It concludes that the effect of judicial enforcement of children’s socio-economic rights on child poverty levels in New Zealand will depend on the type of remedy the courts choose to implement.</p>

From “Perverse” to Progressive?: Advocating for Children’s Rights in Argentina

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-89
Author(s):  
Amy Risley
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Socioeconomic Conditions ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
The Social ◽  
United Nations Convention

This article argues that social issues are central to the children’s rights movement in Argentina. For more than a decade, child advocates have traced the plight of children to poverty, marginality, and neoliberal economic reforms. In particular, they have framed the issue of child welfare as closely related to socioeconomic conditions, underscored the “perverse” characteristics of the country’s existing institutions and policies, and called for reforms that accord with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Although the country’s policies are gradually being transformed due to a landmark child-protection law passed in 2005, a dramatically more progressive framework for children’s rights has not yet been adopted. Given that policymakers have largely failed to reverse the trends that activists perceive as harming children, it is expected that advocates will continue to criticise the gap between domestic realities and the social and economic rights included in the Convention.

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.

Comparing Children's Rights: Introducing the Children's Rights Index

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Gran
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Economic Rights

AbstractChildren's rights continue to be subject of international debates. Moving past these debates can be facilitated with an international measure of children's rights. This article introduces the Children's Rights Index, an international measure of children's rights for over 190 countries. The Children's Rights Index consists of two civil rights, two political rights, two social rights, and two economic rights. This article presents country scores on the Children's Rights Index, then examines whether children's rights vary by region and other differences, such as country wealth. It is hoped that the Children's Rights Index will provide evidence on children's rights important to the work of governments and nongovernmental organizations, as well as scholars and others concerned about children's welfare.

scholarly journals Does the Differential Criterion for Vesting Parental Rights and Responsibilities of Unmarried Parents Violate International Law? A Legislative and Social Study of Three African Countries

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-229
Author(s):  
Julia Sloth-Nielsen ◽  
Lorenzo Wakefield ◽  
Nkatha L Murungi
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Social Study ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Face ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe right to non-discrimination for all children is established in international human rights law. International children's rights law further provides for the common responsibility of parents for the maintenance of their children. African customary law and common law have always made a distinction between children born in and out of wedlock so far as the duty to maintain them is concerned. The resilience of this customary and common law approach is evident in statutory provisions of the countries discussed in this article. This is despite international obligations under children's rights treaties ratified by these countries. On the face of it, the distinction of responsibility based on marital status seems harmless. However, in view of gender inequities and resource distribution between men and women in society, such a distinction has serious implications for the rights of affected children.

scholarly journals Reclaiming Progressive Realisation: A Children’s Rights Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 748-777
Author(s):  
Seamus Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Legal Obligation ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Reporting Process

Abstract Any discussion on children’s socio-economic rights should not overlook their means of fulfilment; namely, the principle of progressive realisation and the legal duties arising therefrom. This article argues that from a children’s rights perspective, this principle has remained legally and operationally underdeveloped by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. This can be seen from their failure sufficiently to engage with, and address, the obligations imposed by progressive realisation in their General Comments and in their Concluding Observations on state practice issued under the Convention’s reporting process. This article argues that the cumulative consequence of these failings is that the Committee has peripheralised this important legal obligation within children’s rights scholarship and has ultimately undermined its ability to achieve its full legal potential in enhancing children’s socio-economic rights. In advocating for the promulgation of a revised General Comment on the General Measures of Implementation, it demonstrates how children’s rights can meaningfully reconnect with the principle in a more consequential way.

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