Children’s Rights

Wouter Vandenhole, Professor of Human and Children's Rights, Law and Development Research Group, Faculty of Law, Gamze Erdem Türkelli, Associate Research Professor, Law and Development Research Group, Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp and Sara Lembrechts, PhD researcher, Migration Law Research Group, Ghent University, Belgium

CONTENTS:

Foreword

Introduction: Three decades of children’s rights law 1
Article 1: Scope of application 48
Article 2: Non-discrimination 52
Article 3: Best interests of the child 59
Article 4: General obligation 74
Article 5: Appropriate direction and guidance consistent with the child’s evolving
capacities 80
Article 6: The right to life, survival and development 88
Article 7: Name and nationality 100
Article 8: Preservation of identity 108
Article 9: Separation from parents 112
Article 10: Family reunification 124
Article 11: Illicit transfer and non-return of children 134
Article 12: The views of the child 143
Article 13: Freedom of expression 160
Article 14: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion 167
Article 15: Freedom of association and peaceful assembly 174
Article 16: The right to privacy 184
Article 17: Access to appropriate information through media 194
Article 18: Common responsibilities of parents for the upbringing and development
of the child 203
Article 19: Protection from all forms of violence 209
Article 20: Children deprived of their family environment 222
Article 21: Adoption 228
Article 22: Asylum seeking and refugee children 236
Article 23: Children with disabilities 247
Article 24: Right to health 254
Article 25: Periodic review of placement 274
Article 26: Social security 276
Article 27: Adequate standard of living 281
Article 28: Right to education 288
Article 29: Aims of education 299
Article 30: Rights of children from minorities and indigenous origin 303
Article 31: Rest, leisure and play 312
Article 32: Protection from economic exploitation 320
Article 33: Protection from drugs 327
Article 34: Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse 334
Article 35: Prevention of abduction, sale and trafficking 343
Article 36: Protection against all other forms of exploitation 352
Article 37: Deprivation of liberty, prohibition of torture, degrading and inhuman
treatment and of capital punishment and life imprisonment 355
Article 38: Children in armed conflict 369
Article 39: Recovery and reintegration of child victims 376
Article 40: Children’s rights in justice systems 383
Article 41: Respect for higher standards 397
Article 42: Dissemination 399
Article 43: The Committee on the Rights of the Child 404
Article 44: Reporting procedure 409
Article 45: Implementation and international cooperation 413
Articles 46–54: Final clauses: signature, ratification, accession, entry into force,
amendments, reservations, denunciations 417
Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) 424
Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography 437
Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure (OPIC) 456
Index 483