The Importance of Thinking That Children Have Rights

In declaring that children have rights, the United Nations may have been unaware that philosophers and jurists have differed among themselves over the basis for conceiving that children may have rights. It is suggested in this paper that the problem is compounded by the practice of framing policy towards children in the form of general duties to promote their welfare. It is argued that legal relationships of this kind exclude the essential features of rights-based relationships. The paper offers a theoretical basis on which assertions that children have rights may be grounded and an explanation of the social significance of making such assertions. It closes by placing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child within this framework.