Book contents
- A Magna Carta for Children?
- A Magna Carta for Children?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- The Hamlyn Trust
- The Hamlyn Lectures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Prelude
- Part I Is it Wrong to Think of Children as Human Beings?
- Part II Even Lawyers Were Children Once
- Part III A Magna Carta for Children
- 13 Rethinking Children’s Rights
- 14 Alternatives to Rights: Or Are They?
- 15 A Magna Carta for Children?
- 16 Rethinking Principles and Concepts
- 17 Conclusion
- 18 Coda: A Child of Our Time
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
13 - Rethinking Children’s Rights
from Part III - A Magna Carta for Children
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
- A Magna Carta for Children?
- A Magna Carta for Children?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- The Hamlyn Trust
- The Hamlyn Lectures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Prelude
- Part I Is it Wrong to Think of Children as Human Beings?
- Part II Even Lawyers Were Children Once
- Part III A Magna Carta for Children
- 13 Rethinking Children’s Rights
- 14 Alternatives to Rights: Or Are They?
- 15 A Magna Carta for Children?
- 16 Rethinking Principles and Concepts
- 17 Conclusion
- 18 Coda: A Child of Our Time
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
As noted previously, discussion about, and research into, children’s rights, has been ensnared by consensus. It is easy to take the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as the final victory for children, what we have long been aiming for and have now achieved. It is tempting to chorus ‘Halleluiah’! But there are dangers in foreclosing critique. To get as far as we have it has been necessary to challenge the status quo, for example, to show that children are ‘beings’, not merely ‘becomings’. But having achieved this, we must ask ‘What are the implications of recognising this?’ It is easy to rest on our laurels and to accept the Convention as the new status quo. Beethoven’s first foray into symphonic writing broke new ground but it didn’t stop him writing the ‘Eroica’ and ultimately the ‘Choral’.
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- Information
- A Magna Carta for Children?Rethinking Children's Rights, pp. 309 - 333Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020