Beyond Balancing: Toward an Integrated Approach to Children's Rights

Abstract

Discussions of children's rights often are framed in terms of balancing—balancing parents' and children's rights, balancing rights to autonomy and protection, balancing rights and responsibilities. By its nature, such a comparative inquiry pulls for relativist reasoning, but such an approach undermines the universalism that is at the root of the concept of human rights. Like the international human rights instruments that preceded it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is based on “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” Whether grounded in religious or secular ethical reasoning, human rights are directed toward a world in which the Golden Rule—a regime of mutual respect—serves as the guidepost for the social order. Building from that premise, recommendations are offered for social scientists' contributions to creation and preservation of such societies.