Thirty years after the adoption of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, this book provides diverse perspectives from countries and regions across the globe on its implementation, critique and potential for reform. The book revolves around key issues including progress in implementing the CRC worldwide; how to include children in legal proceedings; how to uphold children’s various civil rights; how to best assist children at risk; and discussions surrounding children’s identity rights in a changing familial order. Discussion of the CRC is both compelling and polarizing and the book portrays the enthusiasm around these topics through contrasting and comparative opinions on a range of topics. The work provides varying perspectives from many different countries and regions, offering a wealth of insight on topics that will be of significant interest to scholars and practitioners working in the areas of children’s rights and justice.

Children’s rights law is often studied and perceived in isolation from the broader field of human rights law. This volume explores the inter-relationship between children’s rights law and more general human rights law in order to see whether elements from each could successfully inform the other. Children’s rights law has a number of distinctive characteristics, such as the emphasis on the ‘best interests of the child’, the use of general principles, and the inclusion of ‘third parties’ (e.g. parents and other care-takers) in treaty provisions. The first part of this book questions whether these features could be a source of inspiration for general human rights law. In part two, the reverse question is asked: could children’s rights law draw inspiration from developments in other branches of human rights law that focus on other specific categories of rights holders, such as women, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, or older persons? Finally, the interaction between children’s rights law and human rights law – and the potential for their isolation, inspiration or integration – may be coloured or determined by the thematic issue under consideration. Therefore the third part of the book studies the interplay between children’s rights law and human rights law in the context of specific topics: intra-family relations, LGBTQI marginalization, migration, media, the environment and transnational human rights obligations.

This collection, written by legal scholars from around the world, offers insights into a variety of topics from children’s rights to criminal law, jurisprudence, medical ethics and more. Its breadth reflects the fact that these are all elements of what can broadly be called ‘law and society’, that enterprise that is interested in law’s place or influence in diffferent aspects of real lives and understands law to be simultaneously symbol, philosophy and action. It is also testament to the broad range of vision of Professor Michael Freeman, in whose honour the volume was conceived. The contributions are divided into categories which reflect his distinguished career and publications, over 85 books and countless articles, including pioneering work on children’s rights, domestic violence, religious law, jurisprudence, law and culture, family law and medicine, ethics and the law, as well as his enduring commitment to interdisciplinarity. The volume begins with work on law in its philosophical, cultural or symbolic realm (Part I: Law and Stories: Culture, Religion and Philosophy), including its commitment to the normative ideal of ‘rights’ (Part II: Law and Rights), and then offfers work on law as coercive state action (Part III: Law and the Coercive State) and as regulator of personal relationships (Part IV: Law and Personal Living). It continues with reflections on the importance of globalisation, both of law and of ‘doing family’ in personal and public life (Part V: Law and International Living) before closing with two reflections on Michael Freeman’s body of work generally, including one from Michael himself (Part VI: Law and Michael Freeman).

This book explores the meaning and implementation of international children’s rights law, as laid down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and related international and regional human rights instruments. It considers the application of international children’s rights at the national level and addresses key procedural and institutional matters concerning children’s rights implementation, including monitoring, complaints mechanisms, effective remedies, advocacy and international agenda-setting. The book breaks new ground by analysing a wide range of international children’s rights issues from a legal perspective. It incorporates a comparative perspective on children’s rights law at the international, regional and domestic level and contains information on evidence-based strategies towards the implementation and enforcement of international children’s rights law. The book is targeted at academics, legal and other professionals, and advanced students. It analyses children’s rights law in the following areas: implementation and enforcement; advocacy and standard setting; complaints and remedies; the child and the family; adoption; alternative care; protection from violence; civil rights of the child; economic, social and cultural rights; education; health; migration and refugees; children and the justice system; children with disabilities; deprivation of liberty; children’s rights and digital technologies; war and disaster; sustainable development goals and further contemporary issues.

Children’s rights law is often studied and perceived in isolation from the broader field of human rights law. This volume explores the inter-relationship between children’s rights law and more general human rights law in order to see whether elements from each could successfully inform the other. Children’s rights law has a number of distinctive characteristics, such as the emphasis on the ‘best interests of the child’, the use of general principles, and the inclusion of ‘third parties’ (e.g. parents and other care-takers) in treaty provisions. The first part of this book questions whether these features could be a source of inspiration for general human rights law. In part two, the reverse question is asked: could children’s rights law draw inspiration from developments in other branches of human rights law that focus on other specific categories of rights holders, such as women, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, or older persons? Finally, the interaction between children’s rights law and human rights law – and the potential for their isolation, inspiration or integration – may be coloured or determined by the thematic issue under consideration. Therefore the third part of the book studies the interplay between children’s rights law and human rights law in the context of specific topics: intra-family relations, LGBTQI marginalization, migration, media, the environment and transnational human rights obligations.

Since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) children’s rights have assumed a central position in a wide variety of disciplines and policies. This handbook offers an engaging overview of the contemporary research landscape for those people in the theory and practice of children’s rights. The volume offers a multidisciplinary approach to children’s rights, as well as key thematic issues in children’s rights at the intersection of global and local concerns. The main approaches and topics within the volume are: • Law, social work, and the sociology of childhood and anthropology • Geography, childhood studies, gender studies and citizenship studies • Participation, education and health • Juvenile justice and alternative care • Violence against children and female genital mutilation • Child labour, working children and child poverty • Migration, indigenous children and resource exploitation The specially commissioned chapters have been written by renowned scholars and researchers and come together to provide a critical and invaluable guide to the challenges and dilemmas currently facing children’s rights.

This accessible and authoritative book provides the first systematic overview of the global children’s rights movement. It introduces both beginners and experts to child and youth rights in all their theoretical, historical, cultural, political, and practical complexity. In the process, the book examines key controversies about globalization, cultural relativism, social justice, power, economics, politics, freedom, ageism, and more. Combining vivid examples with cutting-edge scholarship, Children’s Rights: Today’s Global Challenge lifts up the rights of the youngest third of humanity as the major human rights challenge of the twenty-first century.