Children’s Rights Are Human Rights and Why Canadian Implementation Lags Behind

Abstract

Child rights scholarship is increasingly calling for further theorization of children’s rights, and research using the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a framework is being criticized. This paper discusses children’s rights as a legal concept that is part of wider international human rights law. It recognizes the importance of critical studies and the contribution of other disciplines, but it makes a plea for not rejecting a legal reality. Children do have rights, and these are legal norms. The paper refers to Canadian practice as an example of how the lack of recognition of children’s rights as human rights can adversely affect the place of children in a country that is known for its respect for human rights.

The new sociology of childhood and children's rights

“…Alors que l'approche de la Convention présente une vision universelle des enfants et de leurs droits, la nouvelle sociologie de l'enfance affirme bien au contraire que cette vision est erronée. Ne niant toutefois pas l'utilité de la Convention, Freeman (1998) (Boyden, 2015;Chen et al, 2017;Paré, 2017Paré, , 2022. La vision de ces jeunes est trop souvent mise de côté ou n'est tout simplement pas considérée, puisqu'ils sont vus comme des êtres incomplets, trop jeunes, vulnérables et immatures pour que leur opinion puisse être digne d'une quelconque considération (Christensen & Prout, 2005;Corsaro, 2015;James & James, 2012).…”

“…Selon Cordero Arce (2015), children's rights are none other than those enshrined in the crc, that these rights are unproblematic (meaning that they only need to be implemented, not further through, even less critiqued), and that the crc should instruct research, policy and practice (p.284). Paré (2017) est aussi d'accord avec cette position de Cordero Arce (2015), car selon elle, en plus de la Convention, ses quatre principes fondamentaux ne sont généralement pas remis en question. La Convention est devenue « la bible des militants des droits de l'enfant, et l'activisme allait souvent main dans la main avec la recherche scientifique » (p.29, traduction libre).…”

Parallel lines? Childhood discourses emphasized by the children’s rights movement and the emerging field of children’s rights studies

“…I refer to the CRM to describe an international movement that encouraged the identification of children’s rights (Doek, 2009; Hanson, 2014; Ruck and Horn, 2008). The movement has been influenced largely by the CRC (Reynaert et al, 2009) and has focused on children’s struggle to attain their rights to provision, protection, and participation (Paré, 2017; Quennerstedt, 2010; Reynaert et al, 2009). The movement has also focused on the implementation and monitoring of children’s rights instruments such as the CRC with an advocacy and policy orientation (Ennew, 2000; Fass, 2011).…”

“…The UDHR set the framework for human rights which led to the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 (Ennew, 2000; Marshall, 1999). The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights stemmed from the UDHR and offered human beings the legal protection of human rights (Paré, 2017).…”

“…In the 1970s, the human rights agenda started to expand through a series of events: the 1975 Helsinki Accord, the 1979 International Year of the Child, the Women’s Movement from 1975 to 1995 (World Conferences held in Mexico City, Copenhagen, Nairobi, and Beijing) and the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Ennew, 2000). The context out of which the CRM arose and the lead up to 1989 when state parties signed and ratified the CRC contributed to the legal push for children’s rights in which ideas about children’s rights materialized (Doek, 2009; Ennew, 2000; Fass, 2011; Melton, 2005; Paré, 2017; Reynaert et al, 2012). Various child and youth-led social movements also played a role.…”