INTRODUCTION

The collection brings together in one volume the experience of a variety of jurisdictions with regard to the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter CRC or ‘the Convention’). The variety comes from the size and nature of the jurisdictions studied, their legal and political traditions, and the extent to which they have adopted laws giving effect to the Convention in the national legal system. The variety also comes from the extent to which the national soil was sufficiently fertile for the seeds of the incorporation idea to take root. Building on a study published by UNICEF UK in 2012, this volume presents an up-to-date, detailed and focused analysis of the legal incorporation of the CRC in 12 countries from around the world. Written by experts in children’s rights or human rights based in each country studied, the book combines the analysis of the process of CRC incorporation with a study of its legal impact. In this regard, having set out the national social and legal context, each chapter details the measures adopted to incorporate the CRC at a domestic level, including law reform brought about through legislative or constitutional change and, in some instances, court jurisprudence. As each chapter highlights, each jurisdiction has its own story to tell.

Taken together, the chapters reveal a rich and nuanced picture of legal incorporation, hallmarked by diverse and evolving approaches. The collection deliberately includes jurisdictions at each end of the spectrum – such as those that have adopted a maximalist approach by incorporating the CRC directly and fully into domestic law and those that have preferred a minimalist approach, taking few substantial measures to give the CRC the effect of domestic law and indeed appear resistant to doing so. As each country can no doubt justify the approach it has taken, we propose placing countries along a continuum from minimalist incorporation on the one hand to full and direct legal incorporation on the other, illustrating the value of studying incorporation from different perspectives so that relevant factors, events and developments can be better understood by all. In this way, regardless of where a country is currently situated on its incorporation journey, we advocate that there is much to be learned from every experience of the brakes and drivers that serve to support or frustrate continued progress.