Developmental and Autonomy Rights of Children

On November 20, 1989 , the United Nations unani­mous­ly adopted the Conven­tion on the Rights of the Child. This date sig­nals the recognition by the international com­munity that chil­dren have devel­op­mental and autonomy rights as essential benchmarks for chil­dren them­selves and for those responsi­ble for their healthy phys­i­cal, emotional, social, moral and in­tel­lec­tual develop­ment. However, as long as Early Child Development, rehabilitation of trauma­tised chil­dren and care­­givers, empowerment of chil­dren, care­givers and communities, and interna­tion­al solidarity and co-operation with respect to the international rights of the child are only good intentions, the devel­op­men­tal and autonomy rights of all chil­­­­dren, and especially the rights of young children and children living in ex­treme­­ly dif­fi­cult conditions, are nominal rights only. The eman­cipa­­tion of the young child and the re­ha­bilitation and emancipation of the de­prived, exploited and op­pressed child re­main in a legal shadow land. This book intends to explore this shadow land, and to shed some light on dif­fer­ent quarters and cor­­ners thereof. This is done from the perspective of the Chil­dren’s Law of Na­tions, which carries the principle of the right of the child to be­come an op­ti­mal per­son as its main paradigm. The authors participated in the Project Group on the Rights of the Child of the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights.