Working for the Rights of Children

This latest 'Innocenti Essay' outlines the legal and moral stance behind UNICEF's emerging human rights ethic. It goes on to consider the implications of this thinking in terms of the organisation's perceived future role. The author attempts to end the debate between the traditional development thinkers and the rights advocates, arguing that 'development' is meaningless unless it is designed to ensure the realisation of human rights.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child has now been ratified by 191 nations. Notwithstanding, securing the principles and necessary legal safeguards remains a difficult achievement. Laws and jurisprudence must be firmly linked to the national reality to avoid them being well-meant placebos.

On the basis of detailed statistical surveys conducted in five Latin American countries, this essay demonstrates that actual practice in the region contrasts strongly with legal norms for the minimum age at which children can be employed and the age of completion of compulsory education.

The high primary school enrolment rates in Latin America and the Caribbean mask poor performance in terms of the quality, relevance and cost-effectiveness of formal schooling in the region. What happens to the millions of children who repeat school years, underperform in their first years of schooling and eventually drop out? The vast majority are working children of one sort or another, but their work is likely to lead nowhere in terms of expanded opportunities or eventually to a decent standard of living for them and their future families.