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Making their Days Count
Benyam Dawit Mezmur ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This document is a legal academic analysis of the historical relationships between international human rights conventions, particularly examining how the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961) influenced the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It discusses the positions of various countries, including Malawi and Germany, during the CRC drafting process.
Key points
- The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness predates the CRC by 28 years and influenced its development
- Germany raised concerns in 1981 about member states' reluctance to meet minimum requirements of the 1961 Convention
- There was a recommendation to specifically mention the 1961 Convention under Article 7 of the CRC
- The document examines various binding and non-binding international instruments that informed the CRC
Limitations
This is a legal/historical document focused on treaty development and diplomatic discussions rather than empirical evidence about children's well-being outcomes or interventions. It provides no data on how these legal frameworks actually affect children's lives or welfare.
Abstract
The Convention on the Rights of the Child ('CRC') is definitely informed by many documentsbinding and non-bindingthat actually predate it.Of course, these include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ('ICCPR'), 1 the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women ('CEDAW').2 There are also instruments that are not per se 'human rights instruments' but that actually inform the CRC. For example, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption can be mentioned. 3Now, one would be hard pressed to find many binding instruments that have had as much influence and predates the CRC by 28 years or more than the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness ('1961 Convention').4 When the CRC was being drafted, there was already understanding of the added value that the 1961 Convention would bring on board.In fact, if you go and look at the travaux préparatoires, Germany, for example, as early as 1981, said that there was a reluctance by member states of the United Nations to meet the minimum requirements imposed by the rules of the 1961 Convention.This is shown by the small number of states that had accepted the instrument, but still urged the members of the United Nations to accept the 1961 Convention or to take into account the principles in their internal law.There was even a recommendation that this very Convention could be specifically mentioned under art 7 of the CRC. 5 These were discussions that were raised by countries such as Malawi, Russia and