The rights of children undergo close scrutiny in this chapter. Although the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Magna Carta of children’s rights, enjoys nearly universal support, it did not settle all interpretive questions. This chapter reviews definitional questions such as when the rights of the child are being, shown to ascertain, in practical ways, the difference between a child and an adult. Among the topics covered are the exploitation of child labor, “streetism” as it affects children, the participation of children in armed conflict and the landmark prosecutions of those who recruite them in international criminal tribunals. The global campaign to discourage child marriage is another matter considered. The chapter ends with a consideration of empowerment rights such as enfranchisement.

Previous generations of ethnographers have described the successful adaptation of children to societies that are themselves successfully adapted to their environment and material circumstances (Korbin 1987b). But, as these patterns of cultural adaptation are stressed by global forces that overwhelm local coping strategies, the lives of children are adversely affected. Anthropologists are prominent in the corps of concerned observers working to understand the contexts in which contemporary children live and to offer ideas to improve their lot (Schwartzman 2001: 15).

We will see that the distinction posed at the outset between cherubs, chattel, and changelings continues to apply in the present and into the future. In the neontocracy, the elevation of children to god-like cherubs, and corollary expense, show no signs of slowing. Among the poor, parents continue to seek the means to divest themselves of unwanted changelings or to convert their offspring to usable chattel.

The notion that a child has rights is longstanding: the 1924 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adopted by the League of Nations, was the first international instrument explicitly acknowledging the existence of children’s rights. The formulation of the right to life under the Convention on the Rights of the Child—the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history – is distinct, referring to the duty to ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child. Accordingly, the chapter considers infanticide and violence against children, including in domestic settings as well as against children in the streets. Also addressed are infant mortality, disease, illness, and substance abuse, and recruitment into armed forces, armed groups, and gangs.