Developmental and Autonomy Rights of Children: Empowering Children, Caregivers Communities

On November 20, 1989, the United Nations unanimously adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Therefore, November 20 has become a date which 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 well-being and healthy development. However, as long as society, through international cooperation, lacks serious investment in child development, the rights of all children - especially the rights of young children and children living in exceptionally difficult conditions - are soft rights only. The emancipation of the young child and the rehabilitation and emancipation of those who are deprived, exploited, abused, and neglected remain in a legal shadowland. This book explores this legal shadowland, introducing the concepts of the 'Trias pedagogica' and 'Transism,' in order to shed light on the obligations and responsibilities of states and other actors in the empowerment of children, caregivers, and communities.