Closing the gap between rights and the realities of children

Summary

In this paper, the authors discuss recent advances and current challenges to the legitimation and implementation of children‟s rights nationally and internationally. Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child and related international laws as the basis for legally guaranteed rights, the authors illustrate the advances that have been made in legitimizing and implementing the rights of children and youth. In spite of considerable progress, there are major challenges that remain in making these rights a reality in the everyday lives of children. We will explore the tensions and contradictions between the idealized views of children as entitled to the full spectrum of human rights and the realities of how societies actually treat them. We argue that success in closing this gap does not lie in altering the language or the structure of the laws, but rather in addressing the political, social and economic contexts in which the laws operate.