The UN convention on the rights of the child: incremental and transformative approaches to legal implementation

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a binding treaty of international law and, under Article 4, States Parties are required to take legal, administrative and other measures to implement its provisions. States Parties have interpreted this obligation in different ways, including the adoption of both legal and non-legal measures designed to embed the Convention in the national legal system. Direct incorporation of the Convention has been getting increasing attention with jurisdictions choosing to give it the effect of national law, while others have adopted creative approaches that give further effect to the Convention via indirect incorporation. Research has begun to document these varying approaches and to examine their impact and this paper sets out the lessons to be learned from this accumulation of international experience. Building on the themes of this special issue, the paper seeks to establish a knowledge base on Convention implementation to inform national level decision-makers and advocates as to how to give greater effect to the Convention at a national level. In this regard, it includes a discussion of the merits of the different approaches to implementation of the Convention and identifies the elements necessary to leverage change in the protection of children’s rights at the national level.