What is its relation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child?
As discussed above, the UDHR was the precursor, sometimes referred to as the ‘human rights constitution’, which spawned the proliferation of other binding international human rights treaties – of which the Convention on the Rights of the Child is of course a crucial member. Since the CRC is binding, it means that countries are obliged to implements its articles. How the CRC is incorporated into national systems depends on the domestic legal framework. In ‘monist’ systems, if a country ratifies the Convention, it automatically becomes part of national law. This is the case in the Netherlands and the US for example. In ‘dualist’ systems, the government has to enact extra legislation to incorporate the Convention into national law, for example in the United Kingdom. Why rights? Why children? The concept of rights goes much further than charity. It is not limited to the satisfaction of specific needs, it has to do with how needs are met. It is not about the state doing favours for children
