An interview with the editors of the new compilation, International Children's Rights Instruments
Our members, Prof. Karl Hanson (the University of Geneva, Switzerland), Dr. Ton Liefaard (Leiden University, the Netherlands), Dr. Roberta Ruggiero (the University of Geneva, Switzerland), and Ms. Elena Patrizi (the University of Geneva, Switzerland), as well as their co-editors Dr. Katrien Klep (Leiden University, the Netherlands) and Ms. Lucy Opoka (Leiden University, the Netherlands), talk about their co-edited compilation, International Children’s Rights Instruments (Brill, 2025).
Q: What legal instruments of children’s rights are included in this compilation, and to what social areas do they relate?
The collection starts by listing the main international children’s rights instruments that were adopted during the 20th century: the Declarations of 1924 and of 1959 as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and its three Optional Protocols.
The second part of the book incorporates general human rights instruments that equally apply to children, such as the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and other UN human rights conventions that address women’s rights, rights of persons with disabilities, protection from discrimination, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. This part also includes regional human rights instruments, such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the American Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The subsequent five parts of the book contain legal instruments that are organised in different thematic areas. On asylum, migration and trafficking, it includes conventions for the protection of refugee, migrant and trafficked children. In the area of violence and exploitation, it gathers legal instruments aimed at preventing and combating child abuse. In the field of child labour, it offers international regulations that set the minimum age for work and make recommendations on eliminating the worst forms of exploitation. Regarding juvenile justice, the collection includes guidelines and conventions for the protection of children in the justice system, with measures for restorative justice and the protection of children deprived of their liberty. Finally, for private international law, conventions on international adoption and child abduction are included.
The collection is substantial yet inevitably selective. To ensure clarity and coherence, not all relevant instruments could be included, but we welcome readers' suggestions to enrich future editions.
Q: What motivated you to collect these legal instruments within a single volume?
Over the years, the international legal framework on children’s rights has evolved into a complex system in which UN treaties and resolutions, regional human rights instruments and legal instruments from private and public international law, co-exist and interact. This system includes treaties, recommendations, resolutions, and guidelines, encompassing hard and soft law documents.
By bringing together these materials into a single publication, we aim to offer a comprehensive overview of the sources of law relevant to children’s rights today, and to facilitate easy access to these sources, which in turn contributes to a better understanding and more effective promotion of children’s rights.
Q: Who is your intended audience, and how do you envision the compilation being used?
The editors are involved in offering international postgraduate master’s programmes in children’s rights: the Master of Advanced Studies in Children’s Rights (MCR) at the University of Geneva and the Master of Laws in Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights (LL.M.) at the University of Leiden. We want to provide students in these programmes with a comprehensive and easily accessible sourcebook that compiles key legal sources across different thematic areas relevant to the interdisciplinary field of children’s rights.
Beyond current students, we believe this sourcebook will be valuable to our alumni, students enrolled in similar programmes, and professionals working in the field. Legal scholars, practitioners, government officials, social workers, NGO staff, and others in related disciplines will benefit from having a reliable resource that offers access to essential international children’s rights instruments they use in their daily work.
The collection serves as a practical tool for navigating the complex legal and social landscape of children’s rights. The book is available in Open Access, ensuring broad and easy access for all.