A note from the contributors: “We would like to acknowledge the Bedegal people and the the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin nation, that are the Traditional Custodians of these lands. We would also like to pay respects to the Elders both past and present and emerging, and extend that respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are present here today”.
In this session, John Tobin introduces rights-based research as a theoretical tool for work on childhood. He presents the core debates and issues around rights-based research, and how they speak particularly to work on childhood studies, law and policy for children. The session engages with foundational questions about the relationship between rights and childhood:
- Do (should) children have rights?
- What rights do (should) they have?
- Distinguishing a rights-based approach from other methods for engaging with social justice for children.
It, moreover, engages deeply with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), as the core international legal document which frames and regulates children’s status as right-bearers. It provides an analysis of some of the core Articles in the Convention (the best interests principle, evolving capacities, and the right to be heard), and it applies it to particular cases of social justice for children. It highlights some of the core values that give relevance to a rights-based approach, and it assesses the limitations and problems with current use of a rights-based approach (misunderstanding and misuse).
Rights-based approach: A Conversation
Springing from the introduction to rights-based research on childhood, Noam Peleg and John Tobin discuss some of the most topical issues that surround children’s rights research at the moment, and the potential role (and limitations) of the UNCRC in addressing them. Among the topics addressed, this conversation tackles the following questions:
- What is the utility and limitations of the UNCRC?
- How can children’s rights legislation be implemented to new issues in children’s lives?
- Can a rights-based approach be useful to understand childhood in the digital environment?
- Can a rights-based approach be relevant for addressing issues of climate change and climate justice?
- Is the UNCRC relevant and useful beyond a ‘Western’ model of childhood?
- What is the potential of linking postcolonial and decolonial perspectives with rights-based research?
- What are the ways forward for children’s rights-based research?
Further References and Sources
Convention on the Rights of the Child
- UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
- Tobin, J. (ed.) (2019). The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A Commentary. Oxford University Press.
Theories of Rights
- Hart, H.L.A. (1982). ‘Legal Rights.’ In Essays on Bentham. Oxford University Press.
- MacCormick, N. (1976). ‘Children’s Rights: A Test-Case for Theories of Right.’ Archiv furr Rechts und Sozialphilosophie 62 (3): 305-317.
- Raz, J. (1984a). ‘On the Nature of Rights.’ Mind 93: 194-214.
- Raz, J. (1984b). ‘Legal Rights.’ Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 4 (1): 1-21.
Theories of Children’s Rights
- Archard, D. (2004). Children: Rights and Childhood. Second Edition.
- Archard, D. (2016). ‘Children’s Rights.’ In E.N. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2016).
- Brighouse, H. (2002). ‘What Rights (If Any) Do Children Have?’ In D. Archard and C.M. Macleod (eds.) The Moral and Political Status of Children. Oxford University Press.
- Cordero Arce M (2015) Maturing children’s rights theory. International Journal of Children’s Rights23: 283–331.
- Eekelaar, J. (1986). The Emergence of Children’s Rights. Legal Studies 6(2).
- K. (2022). Reinventing children’s rights. Childhood 29(2).
- Hanson, K. and Peleg, N 2020. Waiting for Children’s Rights Theory. International Journal of Children’s Rights.
Perspectives of Child Rights-Based Research
- Bridgeman, J. and Monk, D. (eds) (2000). Feminist Perspectives on Child Law(Cavendish)
- Hunt Federle, K. (2012). Children and the Law: An Interdisciplinary Approach with Cases, Materials and Comments (OUP)
- Liebel, M. (2020). Decolonizing Childhoods: From Exclusion to Dignity (Policy Press).
- Lundy, L. and McEvoy, L. (2012). Children’s rights and research processes: Assisting children to (in)formed views. Childhood 19(1).
- Lundy, L. (2007). Voice is not enough: conceptualizing Article 12 of the UNCRC. British Educational Research Journal.
- Peleg, N. (2019). The Child’s Right to Development. Cambridge University Press.
- Stalford, H., Hollingsworth, K. and Gilmore, S. (eds.) (2017). Rewriting Children’s Rights Judgments. Bloomsbury.
- Twum-Danso Imoh, A. and Ansell, N. (eds) (2014). Children’s Lives in an Era of Children’s Rights: The Progress of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Africa (Routledge).
Critiques of Children’s Rights Theory
- Griffin, J. (2002). ‘Do Children Have Rights?’ In D. Archard and C.M. Macleod (eds.) The Moral and Political Status of Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- O’Neill, O. (1988). ‘Children’s Rights and Children’s Lives.’ Ethics 98 (April): 445-463.
- Purdy, L. (1992). In their Best Interests? The Case Against Equal Rights for Children. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Databases, Reports and Legal Sources
- Child Rights Connect
- Childhood, Law & Policy Network – International Reports and Resources
- Chid Rights International Network – Case Law Database
- UN Committee on the Rights of the Child – Reports
- UN Committee on the Rights of the Child – General Comments
- UNICEF Publications Database of Reports
This project has been developed by members of the European Children’s Rights Unit with the support of the British Academy’s Newton International Fellowship award No. NIFBA19\190492KU. For more information on the series, please contact Nico Brando.