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International Child Rights Law Irish Centre for Human Rights National University of Ireland GalwayAcademic Year: 2010-2011 Draft Syllabus Lecturer: Aoife DalyOffice: Children’s Research Centre, Trinity College DublinTel: to be confirmedEmail: to be confirmedOffice Hours: By AppointmentCourse Venue: Seminar Room, Irish Centre for Human RightsTime: Dates in January and February 2011 Course Objectives: ã To understand the theoretical underpinnings of the rights of the child; ã To be able to critically analyse the legal arguments around child rights; ã To evaluate the challenges and opportunities in using the Convention on theRights of the Child (and other sources of international law) as effective ways of promoting and protecting children’s rights; ã To learn about strategic attempts to promote and protect children’s rightsinternationally. Mode of Study: ã Seminars: 3 hours of lecture presentation and class discussion; ã Analysis of the various international legal documents on child rights; ã Examination of literature in the area; ã Seminars are of a participatory nature to encourage free exchange of critical viewsand perspectives; ã It is mandatory that students read and prepare the ‘essential’ material outlined inadvance of each class. ‘Additional’ material is not obligatory, but gives a broader view of the relevant issues. Core Text : ã Van Bueren, International Law on the Rights of the Child , TheHague/Boston/London: Martinus Nijhoff, 1998. Useful Websites: ã The UN High Commission for Human Rights:www.unhchr.chincluding access tothe Committee on the Rights of the Child database. ã Guide to Electronic Sources of International Law:www.ail.org1 ã Children’s Rights Information Network:www.crin.org ã The European Court of Human Rights:www.echr.coe.int Course Outline: DateClassTopicTo be confirmed 1Introduction and Background: Child RightsConvention (CRC) in the context of international human rights law;History, Theory, Guiding PrinciplesTo be confirmed2Reservations, Enforcement, MonitoringTo be confirmed3Protection Rights I-Focus Issue: Armed ConflictTo be confirmed4Protection Rights II-Focus Issue: ExploitationTo be confirmed5Provision Rights-Focus Issue: The Right to EducationTo be confirmed6Participation Rights Week 1:- Historical Background to the CRC- Theoretical Analysis of Children’s Rights- Guiding Principles of the CRCEssential Reading ã Van Bueren, The International Law on the Rights of the Child , Martinus Nijhoff,1998, Chapter 1 “ A History of the International Law on the Rights of the Child”. ã Freeman, ‘Taking Children’s Rights More seriously’ in Alston, Parker &Seymour, eds., Children, Rights and the Law , OUP, 1992, 52- 71. ã Alston, “The Best Interests Principle: Towards a Reconciliation of Culture andHuman Rights,” in Philip Alston, The Best Interests of the Child. Reconciling Culture and Human Rights , Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994, 1-25; ã Sund, ‘The Rights of Children as Legally Protected Interests’ 14 International Journal of Children’s Rights (2006) 327-337; Additional Reading ã McGoldrick, ‘The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’5 International Journal of Law and the Family (1991) 132-169; ã Wolfson, “Children’s Rights: The Theoretical Underpinning of the ‘Best Interestsof the Child’ in M. Freeman and P. Veerman, The Ideologies of Children’s Rights ,Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1992, 7-27; ã Fottrell (Ed), Revisiting Children’s Rights: 10 Years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child , 2000, Chapter 1.2 Legal Text:Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959);Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989);Optional Protocols I and IIWebsites:www.unicef.org/crc www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/protocolchild.htmwww.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/dopchild.htm Week 2:Reservations, Enforcement, MonitoringEssential Reading ã Schabas, “Reservation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,’ Human Rights Quarterly , (1996) Vol 18 (2) 472-491 (available on HeinOnline); ã Van Bueren, The International Law on the Rights of the Child , Martinus Nijhoff, 1998, Chapter 14 “The Implementation of the International Rights of theChild”; ã Alen and Pas, “The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child’s Self-executing Character,” in Eugeen Verhellen, ed., Monitoring Children’s Rights ,The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1996, 165-186; ã Todres, J., Emerging Limitations on the Rights of the Child: The U.N.Convention on the Rights of the Child and Its Early Case Law, 30 Columbia Human Rights Law Review , 159 (1998) (available on Lexis Nexis). Additional Reading ã Kilkelly, U., ‘The Best of Both Worlds for Children’s Rights: Interpreting theEuropean Convention on Human Rights in the light of the UN Convention on theRights of the Child’, 23(2) Human Rights Quarterly (2001) (available onHeinOnline). ã Heesterman, An Assessment of the Impact of Youth Submissions to the UNCommittee on the Rights of the Child, The International Journal of Children’s Rights , 13: 351-378, 2005.UN Docs:Overview of Reporting Procedures, athttp://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CRC.C.33.En?OpendocumentLegal Text:Declarations and Reservations to CRCDeclarations and Reservations to Optional Protocols3 Week 3:Protection Rights IFocus Issue: Armed ConflictEssential Reading: ã Breen, ‘The Role of NGOs in the Formulation of and Compliance with theOptional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict’, Human Rights Quarterly 25 (March, 2003).(available on HeinOnline) ã Corriero, M. A., The Involvement and Protection of Children in Truth and Justice-Seeking Processes: The Special Court for Sierra Leone, 18, New York Law School Journal of Human Rights 337, Summer 2002. (available on Lexis Nexis). ã Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone (excerpt) ã TW Bennett, Using Children in Armed Conflict: A Legitimate African Tradition?Published in Monograph No 32: Using Children in Armed Conflict: A Legitimate African Tradition? , December 1998 (available through google search) Additional Reading: ã Van Bueren, The International Law on the Rights of the Child , Martinus Nijhoff,1998, Chapter 12, The Rights of Children in Armed Conflicts. ã Ruth Kahurananga, Children Affected by Armed Conflict: Rights v Compliance ,World Vision International (available through google search) ã Unicef: A Right to Protection , available at:http://www.unicef.org/voy/explore/cse/explore_1305.htmlLegal Text:UN Convention on the Rights of the ChildOptional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Rights of theChild on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000)The Geneva ConventionsDakar Declaration, 19984
