Alaimo, Kathleen. Historical Roots of Children’s Rights and the United States.
This article examines the rights of the child by tracing the historical origins of the rights of children in the West over the many centuries. The article also tries to clarify the distinctive ways in which children’s rights are contemporary understood. The essay focuses on the idea of rights by connecting this idea to the changing perspectives about childhood in the West. The discussion derives much from the 1989 UNCRC which defines children’s rights. According to Alaimo (2), the UNCRC affirms not only the child’s right to protection from harm and abuse, but also the right to childhood, to develop into an autonomous adult, and to have a voice in matters affecting and concerning the individual child. The article examines the conception of childhood and children’s rights during various time periods which include the Pre-Industrial Era, the Enlightenment Era, the Romanticism era, the era of the French Revolution, the 19th century and the Contemporary Age. In conclusion, the author notes that the idea of children’s rights and the concept of childhood has a history shaped by changing social, cultural, economic and political factors.
Cohen, Cynthia P. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Developing International Norms to Create a New World for Children.
This article delves into the conceptualization of the rights of children by examining the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and international obligations towards children rights. According to Cohen (50), the child-caring movement started after the First World War 1 through the League of Nations. The article observes the International Labor Organization (ILO) as the first organization that can be given credit for drafting the first legally binding treaties on the protection of children. The article also examines UNCRC’s achievements in the realization of the children’s rights. Generally, the article examines the obligations of various international bodies in conceptualizing, realizing and actualizing the rights of the child.
Works Cited
Alaimo, Kathleen. Historical Roots of Children’s Rights and the United States. Maryland: University Press of America, 2002.
Cohen, Cynthia P. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Developing International Norms to Create a New World for Children. Maryland: University Press of America, 2002.
