MONITORING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS Edited by EUGEEN VERHELLEN University of Ghent, Children's Rights Centre, Belgium MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS THEHAGUE/BOSTON/LONDON Library of CoQgress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Monitoring children's rights I edited by Eugeen Verhellen. p. em. "Contributions made and discussed at the European Conference on Monitoring Children's Rights, December 1994"--Preface. Inc 1udes index. ISBN 9041101616 <alk. paper>. --ISBN 9041101624 <pbk. : alk. paper> 1. Children <International law>--Congresses. 2. Convention on the Rights of the Child <1989>--Congresses. 3. Children's rights-Congresses. 4. Children--Legal status, laws, etc.--Congresses. 5. Child welfare--Congresses. I. Verhellen, Eugeen. K639.A55 1994 346.01'35--dc20 95-43186 [342.6135] ISBN 90-411-0161-6 ISBN 90-411-0162-4 (pbk) Table of Contents PREFACE List of Contributors Published by Kluwer Law International, P.O. Box 85889, ]508 CN The Hague, The Netherlands. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Law International, 675 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Law International, P.O. Box 85889, 2508 CN The Hague, The Netherlands Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved @1996 Kluwer Law International Kluwer Law International incorporates the publishing programmes of Graham & Trotman Ltd, Kluwer Law and Taxation Publishers, and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. Printed in the Netherlands xiii xvii PART ONE Foreword I Samir Sanad Basta 3 1. General Monitoring Children's Rights I Eugeen Verhellen Establishing Accountability: Some Current Challenges in Relation to Human Rights Monitoring I Philip Alston 7 21 2. The Content of Monitoring Monitoring Childhood: Its Social, Economic and Political Features I lens Qvortrup 33 Monitoring Children's Rights and Monitoring Childhood: Different Tasks? I Ferran Casas 49 Children's Participation and Monitoring Children's Rights I Malfrid Grude Flekk¢y 57 Monitoring: Back to Basic Questions I Nigel Cantwell 67 3. Formal and Procedural Aspects of Monitoring Monitoring Human Rights: Formal and Procedural Aspects I Johan Vande Lanotte and Geert Goedertier 73 vi Table of Contents vii Appropriate Direction and Guidance in the Exercise by a Child of the Rights to Freedom of Expression, Thought, Conscience and Religion I Adam Lopatka 287 Children's Participation: How far Can Children be Involved? I Brian Milne 293 Article 12- Issues in Developing Children's Participation Rights: The Experience of Save the Children in the UK I Gill Barn and Annie Franklin 305 Table of Contents Monitoring Children's Rights: Cutting Through the Confusion and Planning for Effective Action I James R. Himes 113 Monitoring Children's Rights: A View from Within I Marta Santos Pais 129 Recourse Procedures Against the Violation of Children's Rights in European Countries I Pascale Boucaud 145 Towards a European Law on Children: The European Charter of Rights of the Child I Juan Maria Bandres Molet 159 Children's Right to Participate in Decision Making: A Case Study of Ravenswood Primary School Council Newcastle upon Tyne, England I Bob Franklin 317 4. Self-executive Force The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child's Self-executing Character I Andre Alen and Wouter Pas 165 Children's Parliament in Slovenia I Zoran Pavlovic The Self-executing Character of the Children's Rights Convention in France I Jean-Pierre Rosenczveig 187 Social Participation: Beyond the Effect of Sweetness, with Illustrations 347 from the Project Snater I Jan van Gils The Direct Effect of the European Convention of Human Rights and the Rights of Children I Maud Buquicchio-De Boer 199 Marriage: That's your Own Choice! Moroccan Youngsters and the Choice of a Partner I Anke Van Keulen and Jamila Hamid 327 357 5. Conclusion 3. Childhood Policies and Monitoring Children's Rights Synthesis of the Discussions at the European Conference on Monitoring Children's Rights I Hans van Loon 211 Evaluating the Process of Monitoring Children's Rights I Angelo Saporiti 367 Child Politics: Dimensions and Perspectives IGoran Therborn 377 PART TWO 1. The Opinion of Children about their Rights 4. International Monitoring Procedures The Monitoring of Children's Rights in Relation to Youth Cultures I Maria Bouverne - De Bie 225 The Invisibility of Children and Adolescents: The Need to Monitor our Rhetoric and our Attitudes I Bruce Abramson Children's Attitudes Toward Their Rights. An International Perspective I Isabelle Cherney and Nancy Walker Perry 241 Perspectives of Canadian Youth on Children's Rights I Katharine Covell and Brian Howe 251 2. Children's Participation How to Develop a Participatory, Comprehensive and Coherent Youth Policy? I Willy Fache 263 Children's Participation in Residential Care I Lennie Haarsma 281 393 Possible Optional Protocols to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Improving or Undermining the Convention and its Monitoring? The Case of Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Sale of Children I Geert Cappelaere The Prohibition of Child Labour as a Social Clause in Multilateral Trade Agreements I Koen de Feyter 431 Impressions en Marge d'une Session du Comite des Droits de !'Enfant I Leyla Khalfallah 445 viii ix Table of Contents Table of Contents A Child Against the State: Tasks of the Children's Ombudsman I Helena Molander 5. Regional and National Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 575 Process of Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Poland I Elzbieta Czyz 453 Monitoring Children's Rights: A Specific Task for "Child & Family"? I Lieven Vandenberghe and Ankie Vandekerckhove 587 The UN Convention -on the Rights of the Child in Lithuania I Giedra Dagiliene 457 8. Children's Legal Rights and Legal Assistance Children at Risk and Defence of Their Rights in Bulgaria (The CAR Project) I Panayot Randev, Ilka Grigorova and Maria Nikolova 463 ·-.,~ Monitoring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in a Non-party State: The United States I Cynthia Price Cohen 475 Children's Rights in Slovenia I Marja Strojin 491 Regional Implementation of Children's Nutrition Rights in Central America and Mexico I Marfa Eugenia Villarreal and George Kent A/Access to Legal Advice for Minors I Josiane Bigot and Richard Sancho (593--:7 Andrea 495 @he Role of NGOs in Monitoring and Implementing the Convention The Role of the Children's Rights Shop in Monitoring Children's Rights I Maud Droogleever Fortyun 597 The Death Penalty for Crimes Committed by Persons Under Eighteen Years of Age I William A. Schabas 603 Role of National Courts in Protecting Children's Rights I R.N. Trivedi ~~!) 9. Education The Role of the NGOs in Monitoring Children's Rights I Luisa Maria Aguilar 503 The Children's Rights Project in the Primary School "De Vrijdagmarkt" in Bruges I John Decoene and Rudy De Cock 627 Can we Make Reality of Children's Rights? NGO Monitoring in Sweden I Simone Ek 509 The European Federation of City Farms and Working with Children I Marc De Staercke and Ludwich Rech 637 Kitty 007: The Name by Which Anne Franck Calls us to Hope and a future I Lea Dherbecourt 641 Pre-surveillance of Children's Rights: The Project "IDEE" promoting Children's Participation in Geneva, Switzerland I Marie-Franf{oise Liicker-Babel, Philippe D. Jaffe and Helene Rey Wicky 517 Monitoring the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: The Experience of Philippine NGOs I Nelia Sancho Monitoring Children's Rights to Education: an Inter-agency Approach in the South West of England I Mary John 649 525 The Right to Information: Too Vague to Be True? I Marian Koren NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child I Laura Theytaz-Bergman 537 Convention on the Rights of the Child: Education for the 21st Century I Alena Kroupova 681 Developing the Role of an Ombudsman I Marianne Borgen 541 Commission de Protection des Droits de la Jeunesse: Mecanisme National de Surveillance des Droits I Celine Giroux Les Droits des Enfants Appartenant aux Minorites N ationales d' Apprendre la Langue Matemelle et le Droit d'Etre Instruits dans Cette Langue - Entre la Lettre de la Loi et la Realite de la Societe Roumaine I loan Oncea 691 555 7. National Monitoring Mechanisms: the Role of Ombudswork The General Delegate for Children's Rights and Youth Assistance Evaluation of an Innnovating Action in the French Community of Belgium I Claude Lelievre 563 Le Processus d'Enseignement aux Droits de l'Homme apres 1989 I Irina Moroianu Zlatescu et Virginia Maxim 667 703 X Table of Contents Table of Contents "Broad Legal Assistance": Defence and Realization of Children's Rights: A Legal Assistance Project for Street Children in Rio de Janeiro I Frans W.P.M. Nederstigt 841 10. Residential Care Implementation of Young People's Rights in Flemish Provisions for Special Youth Welfare I Jan Bosmans Rights of the Child and Their Protection in Polish Resocialization Institutions I Teodor Bulenda and Andrzej Kremplewski xi 713 727 Monitoring Children's Rights in a Socio-educational Establishment: The Lyonnaise Society for Childhood and Adolescence I Annette Jacob 745 The Undugu Society Approach in Dealing with Children at Risk to Abuse and Neglect I Lynette Ochola 853 Droits des J eunes Vivant et Travaillant dans les Interstices du Milieu Urbain I Moulaye Tall 867 Approach of Homeless Young People I Jan van Susteren 871 Human Rights of the Child in Residential Homes for Mentally Retarded Children in Albania I Arian Pano 757 14. Children in Armed Conflict Enfants Deplaces et Places Aupres de Tierces Personnes (Vidomegon) I Felicite Talon Ahouandogbo 761 Children Victims of War in the Republic of Croatia I Darija Remeta 883 Declaration of Amsterdam: A Summary I E.A. Peeters, P. Idenburg and E. Willemse 887 891 11. Health care The Rights of People with Disabilities I Pilar Arnaiz Sanchez 765 Protection of Children and their Health During Times of War I Jane Green Schaller The Child and Its Health: Consent and Medical Interventions I Marc-G. Schweitzer and N. Puig-Verges 775 APPENDICES Abortion: A Right to Life for Unborn Children? I Jeroen van Nieuwenhoven 785 Social and Educational Assistance for Children and their Mild Mental Retarded Parents I Dieter Windels 797 12. Exploitation of Children The Invisible Little Big Workforce: Plight of the Female Working Child in India I Deepak Kumar Be hera 803 Ethical Aberration in Using Children for Endorsing Consumer Products: A Cross-cultural Study I J. Christopher Daniel 817 Exploitation and Violation of Children's Rights: An Action Carried Out in Belgium Since January 1993- INFOKIOSK Service and Pink Lines I Anne-Marie Poreye-Thys 823 Les Droits de l'Enfant dans le Sport I Lieve Stappers 829 13. Street Children Inegalite des Droits de !'Enfant et Role de la Femme I Anne-Marie Frederic 835 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 901 Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1121 (1990) on the Rights of Children 919 European Parliament Resolution A3-0 172192 on a European Charter of Rights of the Child 923 NAME INDEX 931 SUBffiCT INDEX 935