This research paper looks at the definition of a child as expressed in four fields: international law, international child convention, Sharia and Islamic law, and Arab countries. A child is considered any person below the age of 18 years of age. However, each of the four fields has its own modifications of the definition. For instance, the international law and international child conventional loosely consider the age of 18 years as the upper limit of childhood, as they provide a room for countries in which the age of majority may be attained earlier than 18 years. In the four fields, a child is considered dependent on their parents and communities for protection and financial and social support. However, the four fields have a few controversies in the way they define and treat children. For instance, Sharia and Islamic laws want children aged 7 years and above held responsible for their actions and subjected to corporal punishment if found guilty of criminal offenses. On the other hand, the international law and international child convention prohibit corporal punishment of children regardless of their age.
According to the international law, a child is defined as any person below 18 years of age. The upper childhood age limit of 18 years may however not hold in countries where children attain age of majority earlier (Buck 3). About 192 member countries of the United Nations agree with the definition of child as set by the international law. As a rule, children have fewer rights compared to adults. This implies that children are expected to operate under the care of their parents or any other responsible adults or guardians who are supposed to help them make important decisions affecting their lives. Internationally, children beg...
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Declaration of Human Rights: Dignity and Justice for All of Us. Accessed on October 29,
Before any legislation could be implemented, a definition of human rights had to be compiled and accepted. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was approved in 1948 by th...
...2009): 8-9. United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (n.d.). United Nations. Retrieved April 18, 2011, from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
According to international standards, sentencing an individual who is below 18 years of age is against the law (Steinberg and Scott 56). According to International standards, children who are still developing do not have the same level of culpability as adults. However, the United stated violates these standards by treating young offenders as adults. Mainly, incarceration is used to correct individuals or ensure the security of the society by removing criminals who are a threat from the society. For the case of children, the main aim should be to help them reintegrate into the society. In other words, sentencing should serve children’s best interests. Such is because children are still in their developing stages, meaning there is a chance of helping them change their
“I am not a social worker. I am not a teacher, even. That is my fear, you know, that I really can’t do anything. Helping them to get and education is not going to do anything, but without help they are doomed (Born into Brothels, 2004).” Zana Briski made this statement in her documentary Born into Brothels, referring to the children of sex workers in Sonagachi. This statement exemplifies child saving, a dominant theme in children’s discourse, that portrays children as vulnerable, innocent, and in need of “saving” from poverty and immorality according to a view of a universal childhood (Wells, 2009, pg.28). Child saving efforts remove children from their homes and families and place them in new homes or schools to discursively separate them from their parents (Wells, 2009, pg.28). Therefore, they would have the opportunity to be successful. Saving children based on the western conception of childhood has proved to be ineffective and culturally inappropriate when applied to international circumstances. By examining Zana Briski’s method of saving the children in Sonagachi and reviewing the criticisms of the film, it can be determined that her method of saving the children was unnecessary and contributes to the dominance of western political discourse based on the concept of a universal childhood and what western culture considers to be the “best interests” of the child. This essay will address Briski’s method of saving the children in Sonagachi, explore alternative options to child saving through structural reformation and rights based approaches, and examine how the use of images to save children and the globalization of childhood create political problems on an international scale.
The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child was introduced in 1989. This legislation was produced to make sure that the rights of Children are taken into account and for the safety as well as wellbeing of the child all the way through their childhood. This legislation includes: children and young people to be brought back together with their parents if they have already been separated,
Sometimes dealing with children can be a battle in itself, but in many countries, children fight the battles that adults have created. These young people are known as children warriors, soldiers, and combatants. The use of children in war is an unfortunate issue; but it is part of some people’s everyday life. Whether the child is fighting for their government or their life, they are often in constant danger. The foreign policies that have been put in place to protect children have yet to halt the ever-growing amount of children combatants.
Debatably, child maltreatment can be viewed as a human rights violation that is caused by various factors involving the individua...
Declaration of Human Rights: Dignity and Justice for All of Us. Accessed on October 29,
At the moment, the active mechanism of enforcement is weak and is limiting the implementation of children’s rights by States Parties. In sum, it lacks teeth. Some of its flaws are imposed by external factors, and others are self-imposed. Even when State Parties take steps to comply with the CRC, by establishing compatible legislation and domestic mechanisms, they will at times inevitably fall short.
Tanzi, Attila., Problems of Enforcement of Decisions of the International Court of Justice and the Law of the United Nations, EJIL, 6, (1995) 539-572.
On December 10th in 1948, the general assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration, although not legally binding, created “a common standard of achievement of all people and all nations…to promote respect for those rights and freedoms” (Goodhart, 379). However, many cultures assert that the human rights policies outlined in the declaration undermine cultural beliefs and practices. This assertion makes the search for universal human rights very difficult to achieve. I would like to focus on articles 3, 14 and 25 to address how these articles could be modified to incorporate cultural differences, without completely undermining the search for human rights practices.
Looking at the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and even the United Nations Study on the Violence against Children it visible that a global movement is taking place to prevent any physical harm from coming to a child, even in the form of chastisement at home.