Children as Rights Holders

Though the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by all states, USA excepted, the intense debate preceding its approval has never ended. Even recently, scholars have emphasized the difficulties in enforcing children’s rights, and are questioning the paradigm and strategies that have been adopted to date. In this article, we attempt to identify the main difficulties in making children’s rights a reality. All these factors are largely, though not exclusively, due to the uneasy coexistence of plural legal orders in a globalized world, where the power gap between children and adults, especially in family relations, changes from culture to culture and according to the different socio-economic conditions. We conclude by highlighting two key points that should be addressed by children’s rights studies and research. First, new conceptualizations of children’s rights that reflect a shift from a top-down to a bottom-up approach are needed. Second, questions should be raised as to whether the legal approach is the most suitable to address children’s rights and well-being.