"The Handbook aims to be a practical tool for implementation, explaining and illustrating the implications of each article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and of the two Optional Protocols adopted in 2000 as well as their interconnections."--P. xvii.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted ten years ago, on 20 November 1989, by the General Assembly of the United Nations. It entered into force on 2 September 1990. At present, 191 States have ratified or acceded to this Convention, which makes it the most widely accepted human rights treaty ever. Under article 44 of the Convention, each State party has to submit an initial report within two years of the entry into force of the Convention for that State and thereafter a periodic report every five years. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has been formed to monitor the implementation of the Convention. At its second session, in 1992, the Committee decided that it would adopt, at the end of the consideration of each State party's report, concluding observations reflecting the main points of discussion and indicating issues that would require a specific follow-up. The concluding observations provide a general evaluation of the report and of the dialogue with the delegation, and make note of positive developments that may have occurred during the period under review, factors and difficulties affecting the implementation of the Convention, and of specific issues of concern relating to the application of the provisions of the Convention. They also include suggestions and recommendations to the State party concerned. The present volume contains all concluding observations (as well as corresponding preliminary observations) adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its third to seventeenth sessions (1993-1998) on reports from 81 States parties in total. Foreword by Mrs. Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This book examines Ghana's implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ghana's commitment to the Convention which she was the first country to ratify is explored in a series of studies and analyses on child rights promulgations and programs. The book further discusses the challenges the country faces in her efforts of protecting children's rights while providing an insight into future directions for continued support of children's rights.

The articles in this volume shed light on some of the major tensions in the field of children?s rights (such as the ways in which children?s best interests and respect for their autonomy can be reconciled), challenges (such as how the CRC can be made a reality in the lives of children in the face of ignorance, apathy or outright opposition) and critiques (whether children?s rights are a Western imposition or a successful global consensus). Along the way, the writing covers a myriad of issues, encompassing the opposition to the CRC in the US; gay parenting: Dr Seuss?s take on children?s autonomy; the voice of neonates on their health care; the role of NGO in supporting child labourers in India, and young people in detention and more.