How do children’s rights play out in local contexts in relation of children’s work/child labour? This is addressed by Ginny Morrow in a presentation at the University of Leiden’s conference on 25 Years of the UNCRC today.
Her presentation draws on recent research in Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh, India, to explore the daily reality for many children as they attempt to combine attendance at school (as demanded by the global community in the MDG and post-2015 era) with work and their responsibilities to their families. Economic hardship within their households shapes children’s experiences and actions, and means they play an important role in contributing to the domestic economy through their work. However, rights approaches can be narrowly applied or misapplied if they simply follow a legal perspective, which risks downplaying or ignoring children’s lived realities.
Young Lives research suggests that a sociological lens can be useful as an analytic tool to explain why it is difficult to realise child rights in practice. While a rights perspective helps to explore some of the obstacles children experience in daily life, it is also important to take a holistic approach and highlight the interconnections between different elements of children’s lives. The paper suggests that a broad sociological approach to rights highlights the causes and consequences of poverty, while also enabling the development of contextually relevant responses. We conclude that a focus on children that respects their rights, their dignity and worth in the present, not just with regard to their future outcomes and human capital potential, is essential for any attempts to break poverty cycles and the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
25 Years of the CRC, conference at the University of Leiden, 17-19 November 2014 - download the conference programme
Presentation by Virginia Morrow: “Unless I work, we cannot run our house”: Social and Economic Rights for Children Growing Up in Poverty in Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh, India
How do children’s rights play out in local contexts in relation of children’s work/child labour? This is addressed by Ginny Morrow in a presentation at the University of Leiden’s conference on 25 Years of the UNCRC today.
Her presentation draws on recent research in Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh, India, to explore the daily reality for many children as they attempt to combine attendance at school (as demanded by the global community in the MDG and post-2015 era) with work and their responsibilities to their families. Economic hardship within their households shapes children’s experiences and actions, and means they play an important role in contributing to the domestic economy through their work. However, rights approaches can be narrowly applied or misapplied if they simply follow a legal perspective, which risks downplaying or ignoring children’s lived realities.
Young Lives research suggests that a sociological lens can be useful as an analytic tool to explain why it is difficult to realise child rights in practice. While a rights perspective helps to explore some of the obstacles children experience in daily life, it is also important to take a holistic approach and highlight the interconnections between different elements of children’s lives. The paper suggests that a broad sociological approach to rights highlights the causes and consequences of poverty, while also enabling the development of contextually relevant responses. We conclude that a focus on children that respects their rights, their dignity and worth in the present, not just with regard to their future outcomes and human capital potential, is essential for any attempts to break poverty cycles and the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
25 Years of the CRC, conference at the University of Leiden, 17-19 November 2014 - download the conference programme
Presentation by Virginia Morrow: “Unless I work, we cannot run our house”: Social and Economic Rights for Children Growing Up in Poverty in Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh, India