Children of the Runaway Cities

This title focuses on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as it relates to children's basic economic and social rights in developing countries in terms of the obligations placed by the Convention on both States and the international community.

From 1992 to 1995, the Children's Rights Development Unit worked to promote the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in the UK. The process, which involved many individuals (children included) and hundreds of organizations, is documented here.

This paper investigates the dilemmas that arise in applying the ‘best interests’ principle - particularly as the term is used in Article 3(1) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - to concrete situations involving the treatment of children.

The Urban Child project launched studies in the Philippines, Brazil, India and Kenya. Italy constituted a special challenge because it introduced to the project a North-South dimension. Owing to the rapid industrialization and economic growth of the period 1950-1980, Italian children have certainly fared better. However, severe forms of disaffection and problems among Italian youth have also emerged.