Children’s Rights and the Responsibilities of States: Thoughts on Understanding Children’s Rights as Subjective Rights

Abstract

The human rights system of the United Nations is based on the principle that sovereign states bind themselves to internally implement the human rights treaties they ratify. Accordingly, most of the articles in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) define state obligations and start with the phrase: ‘State Parties recognize…, shall respect and ensure…, shall take effective and appropriate measures…, shall use their best efforts …’ etc. This legal system, which assumes the supreme authority of the state over any aspect of social, economic and political life within its territory, is the basis for current international human rights treaties. However, as we will discuss in this chapter, this specific link between human rights and states is characterized by significant weaknesses. This chapter aims to identify the shortcomings of this legal system with a view to children’s rights, and to conceive of possible alternatives. The key questions are how rights are to be understood as subjective rights and how they could possibly be enforced by children themselves.

The biggest challenge for the realisation of children’s rights is still societal attitude, and how people view children. The status of children is simply not as high as other human beings. People are recognising the human rights treaties, but there are still many stumbling blocks.

(Yanghee Lee, Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Interview with the Child Rights Information Network, 2008)