3.2 Interdisciplinary children's rights studies

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Do curso por University of Geneva

Children's Human Rights - An Interdisciplinary Introduction

426 classificações

University of Geneva

Children's Human Rights - An Interdisciplinary Introduction

426 classificações

Drawing on the contributions of several academic disciplines including law, psychology, sociology, history, educational and health sciences, economy and anthropology, an interdisciplinary approach guides the student into a selection of critical issues concerning children’s rights. Participants will gain insight relative to the development of this specific human rights category, as well as to the evolution of the challenges faced by children over time and society’s efforts to respond. Successful international strategies and programs promoting children’s rights will be highlighted, as well as the role of key actors involved in international organizations working in this field. This open online course provides an overview of the most important features of children’s human rights. A central portion of the MOOC will consist of a presentation of the international and regional standards on children’s rights and the related international and regional judicial and quasi-judicial bodies designed to ensure their implementation. No prerequisites or specific background is required to register for this MOOC. The course is conceived as an introductory level program, but participants, who wish to deepen their knowledge in the field of children’s rights, or already have some prior knowledge, will have access to additional reading material on a weekly basis. Participants who successfully complete the class activities and final assessment may request for a paid certificate of accomplishment signed by the Instructor and the main professors responsible for the program. However, no credits are awarded. The course consists of seven topical modules distributed on 4 weeks. English is the only language of instruction.

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Interdisciplinary Children’s Rights Studies

The module will provide a general introduction to the field of children’s rights studies. It will emphasize the interdisciplinary outlook of the field and will present schools of thought in children’s rights. Furthermore, we will show the links between children’s rights and the sociology and anthropology of childhood and provide some examples of recent children’s rights research and practice.

3.1 Introduction2:50

3.2 Interdisciplinary children's rights studies6:30

3.3 Fruits, salads, and smoothies: working together for understanding children's rights9:00

Conheça os instrutores

Roberta Ruggiero
Dr
Center for Children's Rights Studies
Philip D. Jaffé
Professor
Center for Children's Rights Studies
Jean Zermatten
Dr. h. c.
Center for Children's Rights Studies and International Institute for Children's Rights

[MUSIC]

In this video, we will explain the particularities of the field of children's

rights studies as compared to the broader social field of children's rights.

So I will emphasize why we speak of studies in this field, and also say a few

words about the interdisciplinary features of the study field.

Now, why do we speak of children's rights studies?

At University of Geneva, I work in a center which is called Center for

Children's Rights Studies.

And I think it's important that this word studies is added to our name.

I will explain in a few words why that is.

Now, first, children's rights and

the idea that children have rights was of course not an invention by academics.

It became inscribing in actions in the field

leading up to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

And when in academia that position on the importance of children's rights was

taken up, initially it was mostly from a legal and philosophical perspective.

So questions that were asked was, well, for instance a philosophical questions is,

why should children have rights and what should be the rights of children?

Or more legal questions like, what is the content and normative value of

the provisions that are inscribe in the convention of the rise of the child?

Other questions could deal with the implementation mechanism or

the monitoring of the conventions on the rights of the child.

Now, that was in the early years when academics were interested in

children's rights.

Now, overtime more and more fields and

disciplines became interested in this children's rights reality and

also sociologists, anthropologists, or political scientists and

many others became involved in studying the field of children rights.

The questions asked, however, slightly evolved and

we're no longer only dealing with the legal and philosophical

context of children's rights, but also with broader questions, like for

instance, what are the consequences of children's rights in the social practice?

Who are these child right defenders for instance, where do they come from?

And are also children themselves involved in depending their rights.

Why is it that certain rights gain more attention than others?

On this last question, we've done a piece of research in our center.

And for instance, we've discovered that over a period of 20 years,

between 1989 and 2009, the topic of street children,

which was very important in the beginning of the 90s lost attention.

So international organizations, who at the beginning of the 90s spoke a lot about

street children by the end of the year 2009 hardly spoke of it.

There was a shift in attention and we ask questions how comes.

How comes that people speak less of a particular right or

a particular category of children,

like the case of children in street situations over a period of 20 years?

Now, to be able to answer this questions,

you need to take a bit distance from the field itself.

It is difficult to be at the same time promoter of children's rights, and

then also to study them.

This is where the words studies come in.

Studies points at a reflexive position.

Why are the things as they are?

And so, it's hence also a critical position.

Why is this NGO promoting these particular rights and not others?

Or why do children have played only such a small role in defending their rights?

And how was it that certain rights were put on the international agenda

rather than others?

So children's rights without the word studies is a political,

social project in a broad sense.

It is about striving for justice to make a better world for children,

to defend children's human rights.

So it's about engineering.

One thing to move society in one direction, in a particular direction.

Children's rights studies deals with the studies of these endeavors.

It is more about enlightenment about understanding what happens.

Both are of course needed.

But children's rights studies, they are the perspective of academics

who are concerned to carefully explore, understand, explain the world

rather than direct policy making or social struggles for those to remake the world.

Now, why do we call this an interdisciplinary field of studies?

This could be illustrated if we look at two major journals of the field.

The first is the International Journal of Children's Rights

which list a number of disciplines that all participate in the journal.

So research is coming from diverse range of fields published in the journal

to discuss children's rights to contribute to their great understanding.

For instance, law legal and political philosophy, psychology, psychiatrist,

educational theory, social administrations, social work, social

anthropology or even theology or history all contributes through this journal.

In another journal, which is called, child hood,

global, a journal of global child research.

Researches come from, well initially, sociology, but

then it was also complemented by views from other disciplines who all.

Discuss childhood studies, but also on children rights.

They come from social and typology geography besides sociology,

political science, political economy and so forth.

So in the next video, My colleague Frederic, he will explain a bit more how

these disciplines can work together to better understand children's rights.

Now, here, I have highlighted that children's rights are not only important

as a field of social changes where advocates,

policy makers, judges, administrators

make policy changes or legal changes in the field of children's rights, but

it is also an emerging and exciting field of interdisciplinary study.

It approaches children's rights from a more reflexive and

also more critical perspective.

[MUSIC]

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