NCJ Number
104091
Journal
University of Dayton Law Review Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1986) Pages: 601-648
Date Published
1986
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Following an historical review of how the problems of child abuse and neglect have been perceived and addressed internationally, this article critiques the 1986 draft of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Abstract
The historical review of responses to child abuse internationally includes a section on the history of child abuse prevention in the United States, a section that compares child-abuse-and-neglect laws in 13 countries, and a section that reviews efforts of international organizations in addressing the problem of child abuse and neglect. In celebration of the 1979 International Year of the Child, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was authorized by the General Assembly to draft the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention will make legally binding on signatories the ideals articulated in the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child. This article's critique of the 1986 draft of the convention examines the extent to which the convention articles address systemic child abuse (state acts harmful to all or large groups of children) and nonsystemic child abuse (all other types of child abuse). The convention fails to deal adequately with systemic and nonsystemic child sexual abuse and exploitation and nonsystemic physical and emotional abuse by those outside the family and school. This paper recommends a model article that will address these issues. 225 footnotes and a copy of the draft.