What does the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child say?
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has been described as reflective of a cross-cultural perspective on children’s rights (Walker, Brooks, and Wrightsman 1999:43). It was derived from international discussion and written in language carefully assembled from multiple cultural perspectives (see Note 1). Article 20, for example, discusses a child’s need for protective care when alternatives to biological parents are in the child’s best interest, and it does so in a culturally and religiously sensitive fashion: • Such care could include, inter alia, foster placement, kafalah of Islamic law, adoption or if necessary placement in suitable institutions for the care of children. When considering solutions, due regard should be given to the child’s ethnic, religious, cultural, and linguistic background. [From Article 20] In addition to making provisions for cultural and religious variation, the Convention also includes broad and agreed-upon overriding principles relating to what humank
