Marta Santos Pais

Human rights start with children´s rights 

This year marks the 33rd anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly.     

This is an opportune time to acknowledge the crucial process of legal, policy and social change the Convention has generated across regions. The Convention was the first binding treaty on the human rights of children and has become the most widely ratified convention in the history of the United Nations. It was the first international legal instrument to promote the indivisibility of human rights, incorporating civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights, inalienable and all inherent to the dignity of the child. And it was also the very first treaty to recognize children as full-fledged citizens, rather than not-yet persons, passive beneficiaries of services, or a vague promise for tomorrow. Children are people too and children´s rights are human rights. Indeed, human rights start with children´s rights. 

An anniversary is also a time to recall the forgotten pledges States have made to protect and fulfil children’s rights, every day and everywhere. It is a time to honor the promise to place children first and to translate the provisions of the Convention into reality for every child, without discrimination of any kind. A time to act with a deep sense of urgency to prevent and address the serious challenges that, despite progress achieved over the past decades, compromise children ‘s survival, development, and protection, and undermine their ability to inform decisions and be genuinely respected as agents of change. 

During the last two years, the safeguard of children´s rights has encountered unparalleled risks: the severe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the devastation of war in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world, an unprecedented refugee and displacement emergency, and a growing food crisis are drastically hindering the rights of children, especially in the poorest households of the poorest nations. Yet, the youngest members of society have been largely invisible, and their voices and concerns remain hardly heard.

It is at times of crisis that the commitment to children´s rights matters the most. It is then, more than ever, that children must be a priority, and their human rights placed at the forefront of concerns. The determination of nations to stand up for children, alongside children’s own agency, experience, and resilience, are crucial to overcome persisting and emerging challenges, and to transform into reality the momentum gained with the progress made along the way. There is no room for complacency. It is high time to move better, faster and further in our quest to ensure the realization of children´s rights. 
 

Rebecca Thorburn Stern

Child first, migrant second? 

A large part of the migrants in the world today are children. Of those who are forcibly displaced, it is estimated that around 50 per cent are below 18 years of age. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes a comprehensive catalogue of rights for all children, including children on the move. In the context of migration, however, the child rights perspective of the Convention often is at risk of being overshadowed by the child's status as a migrant with all that this entails of rights limitations and restrictions. Put differently, instead of being treated first and foremost as a child and as a migrant second, it is not uncommon for it to be the other way around. In this talk, I reflect upon the reasons and consequences of this for the idea of children as rightsholders.
 

Aoife Daly

Children, youth and the climate crisis- how youth climate activism is changing international human rights law

Child/youth-led climate activism is highlighting the extensive potential that children and young people have for political activism. Youth activists have moved from the streets to the courts, utilising national and international human rights law mechanisms to further their cause. They are not the first to do so, and the extent of their impact is as yet unclear. Nevertheless, it is argued here that through applications such as Saachi (an application to the Committee on the Rights of the Child) and Duarte Agostinho (an application to the ECtHR) they are shifting the human-centric, highly procedural arena of international human rights law towards an approach which better encompasses person-environment connections. 
 

Marta Santos Pais

Human rights start with children´s rights (247 Kb)
 

Rebecca Thorburn Stern

Child first, migrant second?  (173 Kb)
 

Aoife Daly

Children, youth and the climate crisis (71 Kb)