Children as Human Rights Defenders: A Participatory Approach
Author | |
DOI | 10.3366/elr.2019.0579 |
Published date | 01 September 2019 |
Date | 01 September 2019 |
Pages | 417-423 |
The Scottish Government have referred to the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (“UNCRC”) into Scots law as the “gold standard”.
This article seeks to emphasise the increasing importance of participatory rights within the UNCRC, and the role that children and young people themselves can play, for example, by exercising their own rights as human rights defenders. The article then highlights a developing theory of rights which is based upon ideas of empowerment and participation.
The rights of children are being given an increasingly international platform, with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (“the Committee”) dedicating the Day of General Discussion (“DGD”) 2018 to “protecting and empowering children as human rights defenders”.
In 2018, it was proposed that the DGD be dedicated to a long-term project which would contribute to “building adults’ and children's awareness of their role as human rights defenders”.
As Kate Gilmore, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, said in opening the DGD, adults have failed children and young people in so many ways, and are continuing to do so. As such, she asserted, it is time that we all start to listen to children and young people.
The fact that young people are becoming human rights defenders suggests several things. First, it is clear that the UNCRC, in conjunction with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders 1998, is ensuring that children are aware of their rights. Never before have we had such a global movement where young...
To continue reading
Request your trial