The growth of children’s rights as reflected in international and transnational law has transformed the post-war legal landscape. This overview describes some of the major global and regional legal instruments that have contributed to this transformation, as well as specific relevant provisions in broader human-rights related instruments and in international agreements on child protection and placement. (PDF, 185KB)
It was not until the late nineteenth century that a nascent children’s rights’ protection movement countered the widely held view that children were mainly quasi-property and economic assets. In the United States, the Progressive movement challenged courts’ reluctance to interfere in family matters, promoted broad child welfare reforms, and was successful in having laws passed to regulate child labor and provide for compulsory education. It also raised awareness of children’s issues and established a juvenile court system. Another push for children’s rights occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, when children were viewed by some advocates as victims of discrimination or as an oppressed group. In the international context, “[t]he growth of children’s rights in international and transnational law has been identified as a striking change in the post-war legal landscape.” The purpose of this overview is to describe some of the provisions of certain major international legal instruments on children’s rights that form part of that landscape.
II. Global International Documentation
Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1959
The U.N. Declaration of the Rights of the Child (DRC) builds upon rights that had been set forth in a League of Nations Declaration of 1924. The Preamble notes that children need “special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth,” reiterates the 1924 Declaration’s pledge that “mankind owes to the child the best it has to give,” and specifically calls upon voluntary organizations and local authorities to strive for the observance of children’s rights. One of the key principles in the DRC is that a child is to enjoy “special protection” as well as “opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means,” for healthy and normal physical, mental, moral, spiritual, and social development “in conditions of freedom and dignity.” The “paramount consideration” in enacting laws for this purpose is “the best interests of the child,” a standard echoed throughout legal instruments on children’s rights. Among other DRC principles, a child is entitled to a name and nationality; to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation, and medical services; to an education; and, for the handicapped, to “special treatment, education and care.” Other principles are on protection against neglect, cruelty and exploitation, trafficking, underage labor, and discrimination.
Minimum Age Convention 1973
The aim of the Minimum Age Convention (MAC) is to establish a general instrument on the subject of the minimum age of employment with a view to achieving the total abolition of child labor (Preamble). Thus, each State Party is to “pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labor and to raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental development of young persons” (article 1). States Parties must specify a minimum age for admission to employment or work, subject to certain exceptions set forth in the MAC. That minimum may not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, less than fifteen years, but it may initially be set at fourteen years if a state’s economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed (article 2). Exceptions to the age limits may also be permitted for light work or for such purposes as participation in artistic performances (articles 7 and 8). If the employment may be hazardous to a young person’s health, safety, or morals, the minimum age is generally not to be less than eighteen years (article 3(1)).
U.N. Convention on the