A Magna Carta for Children?
Rethinking Children's Rights

This book highlights the importance of law, policy and rights in improving children's lives, combining historical analysis and human rights law.

Michael Freeman (Author)

9781107152823, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 October 2020

584 pages
22.2 x 14.2 x 3.4 cm, 0.81 kg

'What makes this book fascinating for long-established scholars of children's rights and newcomers alike is that it is written by one of the leading thinkers of children's rights who is deeply involved in the development of the field.' Dr Henry Kha, International Journal for Law, Policy and the Family

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world, yet everyday children still face poverty, violence, war, disease and disaster. Are the rights we currently afford to children enough? Combining historical analysis with international human rights law, Michael Freeman considers early legal and philosophical theories on children's rights before exploring the impact and limitations of the Convention itself. He also suggests ways that we may rethink children's rights in the future as well as identifying key areas for reform. This book will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience who are interested in children's rights, children's studies, the history of childhood, international human rights, and comparative family law. It is a crucial restatement of the importance of law, policy and rights in improving children's lives.

Prelude
Part I. 1. Are children human?
2. Interlude – taking a deep breath
Part II. Even Lawyers Were Children Once: 3. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its principles
4. The Convention – norms and themes
5. Enforcing children's rights
6. Criticisms of the Convention
7. Beyond the Convention
8. Interlude – what we can learn from the sociology of childhood
9. Childhoods and rights
10. Regional children's rights
11. Child friendly justice
12. The world 25 years on: new issues and responses
Part III. A Magna Carta for Children: 13. Rethinking children's rights
14. Alternatives to rights – or are they?
15. A Magna Carta for children?
16. Rethinking principles and concepts
17. Conclusion
18. Coda – a child of our time.

Subject Areas: International human rights law [LBBR]