Increasingly Seen and Heard: The Constitutional Recognition of Children’s Rights

Abstract

The proliferation of bills of rights in national constitutions throughout all regions of the world has been well documented. To date there has been no real attempt to examine the place of children's rights within this development. This article is a response to this omission. It examines the transformative effect of international law and the extent to which human rights instruments, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, have influenced the treatment of children in national constitutions. It identifies evidence of an increasing tendency to transform some of the obligations assumed by states under international law into constitutional recognition and protection of children's rights at the domestic level. It also examines the significance and limitations of this development, concluding that, while the constitutional recognition of children's rights offers no guarantees with respect to the enjoyment of their rights, at a minimum it legitimates political discourse on children's rights, allowing children to be seen and, increasingly, heard.