Publications

This paper examines the barriers to educational achievement presented by child labour and the formal education systems of Latin America. Parents put pressure on children to work rather than study, and historically the formal education systems have had no safeguards to remedy the resulting knowledge gaps. Knowledge gaps lead to repeated failure in academic courses, which in turn prompts parents to view education as irrelevant. The paper examines the various economic-incentive programmes that have tried to break this vicious circle and identifies four strategies for educational improvement in the region: involving communities, increasing time available for learning, providing bilingual education to serve minorities and indigenous groups, and introducing computers.

Millions of children throughout the developing world work. Not all child work should be cause for concern. Some work activities develop practical knowledge and skills and reinforce children's sense of self-esteem and unity with their families. It is children's work that is exploitative and dangerous ('child labour') that poses a major human rights and socio-economic challenge. Universal primary education may be the single most effective instrument for meeting this challenge, but because of research inadequacies and the multiplicity of factors involved, a neat causal relationship cannot be established. Drawing on case studies from different countries and exploring the many different ways child work and education are interconnected, this paper seeks to pinpoint concerns that need to be addressed in order to eliminate child labour.

This paper first examines the use of human, economic and organizational resources in producing social outputs, in terms of the two main forms that resources take: 'stocks' and 'flows'. Based on this framework, several key measures are identified for increasing the availability of resources for the implementation of child rights, including changes in technologies and processes, and the expanded use of 'non-traditional' resources for children.

Though the relationships between ethnic minorities and dominant societies are multi-faceted and complex, the interrelated but distinct dimensions of marginalization and discrimination provide a useful framework for studying minority groups. Poor children the world over are vulnerable to abuses and violence, exploitation and human rights violations. When, in addition, they belong to disadvantaged minorities, their plight warrants special attention and requires special policies. The paper concludes by exploring several areas relating to minority children which call for further research, not only with the aim of developing the most effective policies for improving the situtation of minority children but also in order to contribute to the creation of a world in which cultural diversity can lead to more, rather than less, tolerance and to the equal enjoyment of human rights by all.

Upon what criteria should the international human rights community base its assessment of how successful nations have been in meeting the obligations they signed up to at the CRC? Traditional methods of assessment have centred upon an analysis of comparative ‘social indicator’ statistics. This paper showcases an attempt at a more ad hoc approach in its analysis of the development of health care systems in Chile and Thailand. This ‘historical’ method - with its emphasis upon the unique experience of the individual country - reveals that despite adverse economic circumstances both countries have shown an impressive level of commitment to child rights.

Over recent years demographic trends in Columbia (such as the increased participation of women in the workforce) have led to an increased demand for a viable day care system for 3-6 year olds. This has largely been met by an innovative programme set up by the Colombian Family Welfare Institute. The idea at the basis of their initiative is simple yet effective: mothers are given the training and support to enable them to offer day care within their homes to the children of other families from their own communities. This paper describes in detail the design and implementation of this programme. It is hoped international organisations and other countries will draw inspiration from this Colombian success story.

Nutrition is mentioned specifically only three times in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, through its emphasis upon food, health, and care, the Convention makes it clear that good nutrition should be regarded as a fundamental human right. This study reviews the progress that governments have made in implementing this aspect of the Convention, providing ‘status reports’ on the inclusion of nutrition goals in individual ‘National Programmes of Action’. The paper includes a background overview of the development of human nutrition as a science, together with a survey of current trends in thinking on the subject.