1932

Abstract

It is widely perceived that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee established to monitor the Convention's national implementations are key parts of globally supported norms and processes. The Committee has established procedures that national governments are expected to follow as they enforce the Convention. Rather than accept this vision prima facie, this review critically asks whether the world society surrounding children's rights is organized to ensure that these rights are limited in scope and effectiveness.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110615-084638
2017-10-13
2025-04-25
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/lawsocsci/13/1/annurev-lawsocsci-110615-084638.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110615-084638&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Afr. Comm. Experts Rights Welf. Child (ACERWC). 2013. General comment on Article 30 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child Rep. ACERWC/GC/01 ACERWC Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: [Google Scholar]
  2. Afr. Comm. Experts Rights Welf. Child (ACERWC). 2014. General comment on Article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child Rep. ACERWC/GC/02 ACERWC Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: [Google Scholar]
  3. Aristotle. 350 BCE. Politics transl. B Jowett. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.1.one.html [Google Scholar]
  4. Benhabib S. 1999. Citizens, residents, and aliens in a changing world. Soc. Res. 66:3709–44 [Google Scholar]
  5. Boyle E. 2002. Female Genital Cutting Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  6. Boyle EH, Carbone-López K. 2006. Movement frames and African women's explanations for opposing female genital cutting. Int. J. Comp. Sociol. 47:6435–65 [Google Scholar]
  7. Boyle EH, Kim M. 2009. International human rights law, global economic reforms, and child survival and development rights outcomes. Law Soc. Rev. 43:3455–90 [Google Scholar]
  8. Boyle EH, Preves S. 2000. National legislating as international process: the case of anti-female-genital-cutting laws. Law Soc. Rev. 34:401–32 [Google Scholar]
  9. Boyle EH, Thompson M. 2001. National politics and resort to the European Commission on Human Rights. Law Soc. Rev. 35:321–44 [Google Scholar]
  10. Bromley P. 2014. Legitimacy and the contingent diffusion of world culture: diversity and human rights in social science textbooks, divergent cross-national patterns (1970–2008). Can. J. Sociol. 39:11–44 [Google Scholar]
  11. Clark R. 2010. Technical and institutional states: loose coupling in the human rights sector of the world polity. Sociol. Q. 51:65–95 [Google Scholar]
  12. Cole WM. 2005. Sovereignty relinquished? Explaining commitment to the international human rights covenants. Am. Sociol. Rev. 70:472–95 [Google Scholar]
  13. Cole WM. 2009. Hard and soft commitments to human rights treaties, 1966–2000. Sociol. Forum 24:563–88 [Google Scholar]
  14. Cole WM. 2011. Individuals v. states: the correlates of Human Rights Committee rulings, 1979–2007. Soc. Sci. Res. 40:985–1000 [Google Scholar]
  15. Cole WM. 2012. Human rights as myth and ceremony? Reevaluating the effectiveness of human rights treaties, 1981 to 2007. Am. J. Sociol. 117:41131–71 [Google Scholar]
  16. Cole WM. 2013. Strong walk and cheap talk: the effect of the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights on Policies and Practices. Soc. Forces 92:1165–94 [Google Scholar]
  17. Council of Europe Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. 2015. The inclusion of children's rights in national constitutions as an essential component of effective national child policies Resolut. 2056 Counc. Eur. Strasbourg, Fr.: [Google Scholar]
  18. Davidson H. 2014. Does the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child make a difference. Mich. State Int. Law Rev. 22:2497–530 [Google Scholar]
  19. Davidson H, Cohen CP, Girdner LK. 1994. Establishing Ombudsman Programs for Children and Youth Washington, DC: Am. Bar Assoc. [Google Scholar]
  20. Deflem M, Chicoine S. 2011. The sociological discourse on human rights. Dev. Soc. 40:1101–15 [Google Scholar]
  21. Dobbin F, Simmons B, Garrett G. 2007. The global diffusion of public policies. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 33:449–72 [Google Scholar]
  22. Duncan B. 2008. Constitutional reforms in favor of children Rep. UN Children's Fund New York: [Google Scholar]
  23. Dworkin R. 1977. Taking Rights Seriously Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  24. Fass PS. 2010. A historical context on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ann. Am. Acad. Political Soc. Sci. 633:117–29 [Google Scholar]
  25. Fass PS. 2011. How history has shaped children's rights. AAPSS Annals Feb. 25. http://www.aapss.org/news/paula-fass-how-history-has-shaped-childrens-rights/ [Google Scholar]
  26. Freeman MDA. 1987. Taking children's rights seriously. Children Soc 1:4299–319 [Google Scholar]
  27. Freeman MDA. 1996. Children's Rights: A Comparative Perspective Aldershot, UK: Dartmouth [Google Scholar]
  28. Freeman MDA. 2002. Human rights, children's rights, and judgment—some thoughts on reconciling universality and pluralism. Int. J. Children's Rights 10:345–54 [Google Scholar]
  29. Freeman MDA. 2004. Children's Rights 1–2 Farnham, UK: Ashgate [Google Scholar]
  30. Fukuda-Parr S, Lawson-Remer T, Randolph S. 2008. Measuring the progressive realization of human rights obligations: an index of economic and social rights fulfillment Work. Pap. 2008–22 Dep. Econ., Univ. Conn., Storrs, CT [Google Scholar]
  31. Glob. Initiat. End All Corpor. Punishm. Children. 2016a. Global progress towards prohibiting all corporal punishment Rep. Glob. Initiat. End All Corpor. Punishm. Children London: http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/assets/pdfs/legality-tables/Global-progress-table-commitment.pdf [Google Scholar]
  32. Glob. Initiat. End All Corpor. Punishm. Children. 2016b. Corporal punishment of children: summaries of prevalence and attitudinal research in the last 10 years Rep. Glob. Initiat. End All Corpor. Punishm. Children London: http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/assets/pdfs/research-summaries/Global%20research%20summaries.pdf [Google Scholar]
  33. Gobetti D. 1997. Humankind as a system: private and public agency at the origins of modern liberalism. Public and Private Thought and Practice J Weintraub, K Kumar 103–32 Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  34. Gran BK. 2009. The rights of the child. The Leading Rogue State: The US and Human Rights J Blau, A Moncada, C Zimmer, D Brunsma 47–50 Boulder, CO: Paradigm [Google Scholar]
  35. Gran BK. 2011. The roles of independent children's rights institutions in implementing the CRC. Children's Rights: From 20th Century Visions to 21st Century Implementation? J Williams, A Invernizzi 219–37 Surrey, UK: Ashgate [Google Scholar]
  36. Gran BK. 2013. Law and Children's Rights in Private Settings Reykjavik, Icel: Fulbright Comm. [Google Scholar]
  37. Gran BK, Aliberti D. 2003. The office of the children's ombudsperson: children's rights and social-policy innovation. Int. J. Sociol. Law 31:289–106 [Google Scholar]
  38. Guggenheim M. 2007. What's Wrong with Children's Rights Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  39. Hafner-Burton E. 2005. Trading human rights: how preferential trade agreements influence government repression. Int. Organ. 59:593–629 [Google Scholar]
  40. Hafner-Burton E. 2008. Sticks and stones: naming and shaming the human rights enforcement problem. Int. Organ. 62:689–716 [Google Scholar]
  41. Hafner-Burton E, Tsutsui K. 2005. Human rights in a globalizing world: the paradox of empty promises. Am. J. Sociol. 110:1373–411 [Google Scholar]
  42. Hafner-Burton E, Tsutsui K. 2007. Justice lost! The failure of international human rights law to matter where needed most. J. Peace Res. 44:4407–25 [Google Scholar]
  43. Hafner-Burton E, Tsutsui K, Meyer JW. 2008. International human rights law and the politics of legitimation: repressive states and human rights treaties. Int. Sociol. 23:115–41 [Google Scholar]
  44. Hagan J, Levi R. 2007. Justiciability as field effect: when sociology meets human rights. Sociol. Forum 22:372–80 [Google Scholar]
  45. Hathaway O. 2002. Do human rights treaties make a difference?. Yale Law J 111:1935–2042 [Google Scholar]
  46. Hathaway O. 2003. The cost of commitment. Stanford Law Rev 55:1821–62 [Google Scholar]
  47. Hathaway O. 2007. Why do countries commit to human rights treaties?. J. Confl. Resolut. 51:4588–621 [Google Scholar]
  48. Hirsch PM, Lounsbury M. 1997. Ending the family quarrel. Am. Behav. Sci. 40:4406–18 [Google Scholar]
  49. Holmes S, Sunstein C. 2000. The Cost of Rights New York: W.W. Norton [Google Scholar]
  50. Huang Y. 2013. Confucius: A Guide for the Perplexed London: A&C Black [Google Scholar]
  51. Hunt P. 2003. The right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health Rep. Spec. Rapp. Comm. Hum. Rights UN Gen. Assembly New York: [Google Scholar]
  52. In re Gault 387 U.S. 1 1967.
  53. Keith LC. 1999. The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Does it make a difference in human rights behavior?. J. Peace Res. 36:95–118 [Google Scholar]
  54. Keith LC. 2002. Constitutional provisions for individual human rights (1976–1996): Are they more than mere “window dressing”?. Political Res. Q. 55:111–43 [Google Scholar]
  55. Kim M, Boyle EH. 2012. Neoliberalism, transnational education norms, and education spending in the developing world, 1983–2004. Law Soc. Inq. 37:2367–94 [Google Scholar]
  56. Kim M, Boyle EH, Longhofer W, Brehm HN. 2013. When do laws matter? Marriage laws, child's rights, and adolescent fertility, 1989–2007. Law Soc. Rev. 47:3589–619 [Google Scholar]
  57. Launer J. 2009. No place for children. Br. J. Gen. Pract. 59:564543 [Google Scholar]
  58. Marshall TH. 1950. Citizenship and Social Class Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  59. Merry SE. 2006. Human Rights and Gender Violence Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  60. Meyer J. 1980. The world polity and the authority of the nation-state. Studies of the Modern World System A Bergesen 109–37 New York: Academic [Google Scholar]
  61. Meyer JW. 2010. World society, institutional theories, and the actor. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 36:1–20 [Google Scholar]
  62. Meyer JW, Boli J, Thomas GM, Ramirez FO. 1997. World society and the nation-state. Am. J. Sociol. 103:1144–81 [Google Scholar]
  63. Meyer JW, Rowan B. 1977. Institutionalized organizations. Am. J. Sociol 83:2340–63 [Google Scholar]
  64. Minow M. 2003. Partners, Not Rivals Boston: Beacon [Google Scholar]
  65. Neumayer E. 2005. Do international human rights treaties improve respect for human rights?. J. Conflict Resolut. 49:925–53 [Google Scholar]
  66. Neumayer E. 2007. Qualified ratification: explaining reservations to international human rights treaties. J. Legal Stud. 36:397–429 [Google Scholar]
  67. Pearson SJ. 2011. The Rights of the Defenseless Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  68. Riis JA. 1890. How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York New York: Charles Scribner's Sons [Google Scholar]
  69. Riis JA. 1892. The Children of the Poor New York: Charles Scribner's Sons [Google Scholar]
  70. Riley-Smith B. 2016. Making children attend Christian school assemblies undermines human rights, United Nations warns. Telegraph June 9. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/09/making-children-attend-christian-school-assemblies-undermines-hu/ [Google Scholar]
  71. Risse M, Meyer JW. 2015. Thinking about the world: philosophy and sociology Work. Pap. Harvard Kennedy School Cambridge, MA: [Google Scholar]
  72. Romany C. 1993. Women as Aliens: a feminist critique of the public/private distinction in international human rights law. Harvard Hum. Rights J. 6:87 [Google Scholar]
  73. Roper v. Simmons 543 U.S. 551 2005.
  74. Samuelsen RJ. 2011. Vil at barn skal bo hos mor eller far. Aftenposten Oct. 20. https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Vil-at-barn-skal-bo-hos-mor-eller-far-319546b.html [Google Scholar]
  75. Savery L. 2007. Engendering the State London: Routledge [Google Scholar]
  76. Sedletzki V, Mawson A, Holmqvist G, Waage T. 2013. Championing Children's Rights Florence, Italy: UNICEF Innocenti [Google Scholar]
  77. Simmons BA. 2009. Mobilizing for Human Rights New York: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  78. Soh CS. 2008. The Comfort Women Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  79. Stinchcombe AL. 1997. On the virtues of the old institutionalism. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 23:1–18 [Google Scholar]
  80. Tobin J. 2014. Justifying children's rights. The Future of Children's Rights MDA Freeman 258–304 Leiden, Neth.: Brill [Google Scholar]
  81. Todres J. 2006. The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child: An Analysis of Treaty Provisions and Implications of U.S. Ratification. Leiden, Neth.: Brill Acad. [Google Scholar]
  82. United Nations. 2016. Declarations and Reservations to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child New York: United Nations https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en [Google Scholar]
  83. United Nations. 2017. The Foundation of International Human Rights Law New York: United Nations http://www.un.org/en/sections/universal-declaration/foundation-international-human-rights-law/index.html [Google Scholar]
  84. UN Comm. Rights Child. 2002. General Comment Number 2: The Role of Independent Human Rights Institutions in the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of the Child New York: United Nations [Google Scholar]
  85. UN Comm. Rights Child. 2015. Rules of Procedure New York: United Nations [Google Scholar]
  86. UN Libr. 2017. What Is the Difference between Signing, Ratification and Accession of UN Treaties? New York: United Nations http://ask.un.org/faq/14594 [Google Scholar]
  87. UN News Cent. 2015. UN lauds Somalia as country ratifies landmark children's rights treaty. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49845#.WT7TqlPyuUw
  88. UN Popul. Fund. 2005. Human Rights Principles New York: UN Popul. Fund http://www.unfpa.org/resources/human-rights-principles [Google Scholar]
  89. Van Bueren G. 1998. The International Law on the Rights of the Child Leiden, Neth.: Martinus Nijhoff [Google Scholar]
  90. Wenar L. 2015. Rights. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy EN Salta Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rights/ [Google Scholar]
  91. Williams P. 1992. Alchemy of Race and Rights Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  92. Wotipka CM, Ramirez FO. 2008. World society and human rights. The Global Diffusion of Markets and Democracy BA Simmons, F Dobbin, G Garrett 303–43 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  93. Wotipka CM, Tsutsui K. 2008. Global human rights and state sovereignty: state ratification of international human rights treaties, 1965–2001. Sociol. Forum 23:724–54 [Google Scholar]
  94. Young KG. 2008. The minimum core of economic and social rights. Yale Int. Law J. 33:113–75 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110615-084638
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-110615-084638
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error