A Comparative Analysis of Children’s Rights:

Introducing the Children’s Rights Index

Brian GranCase Western Reserve

University

What good are rights?

Tools Symbols Outcomes Rights

Criticisms of Rights

Differences Enforcement Relevance “Rights Talk”

Criticisms of Children’s Rights

Caretaker and enforcement

Private sector

Relevance of children’s rights

Useful in public and private sectors

Change cultural attitudes

Children’s Rights

What rights do children possess?

Citizenship and Human Rights

Civil Political Social + Economic

Human rights

Sources of children’s rights

1924: Declaration of the Rights of the Child (Declaration of Geneva)

1959: Declaration of the Rights of the Child

1989: Convention on the Rights of the Child

U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child

1989

191 countries

Civil, political, social, and economic rights

Civil

Article 14: Freedom to practice religion

Article 37: Freedom from imprisonment with adults

Political

Article 15: Assembly ? : Suffrage

Social

Article 24: Right to education Article 24: Right to health care

Economic

Article 32: Freedom from hazardous work

Article 32: Freedom from economic exploitation

Children’s Rights Index (CRI)

Measures an individual child’s formal rights (to 2 of each) Civil Political Social Economic

Children’s Rights Index (CRI)

4 levels (1) no right; (2) significant, formal limit; (3) minor, informal limit; and (4) right exists.

Possible range: 8 to 32

CRI

Reliability Inter-item: .714 Inter-observer: .65 +

Validity Skewness: .013 Kurtosis: -.56

CRI

22.22: Average 13: Somalia, Swaziland 15: Bhutan 30: Andorra, Canada, Finland,

Netherlands 31: St. Kitts and Nevis

Descriptive information

CRI < 15 CRI 16-23 CRI > 24 Country wealth $7775 $4643.71 $13080 Democracy 0 10.34 25.09 International Law 2143.67 962.81 848.56 CRI 14 20.01 26 N 5 119 71

Explaining CRI Levels

World polity factors: Presence of Intl Human Rights Orgs + Economic Openness

Country factors: Country wealth + Democracy + % Women in Parliament

Independent variables

International human rights organizations: natural log

Economic openness: square root of economic openness

Country wealth: square root of GDPPC Democracy: Vanhanen Women in Parliament: % in Parliament

Results

Unstand. B Std. Error Beta t Sig. Intl HRts Orgs -.05 .162 -.024 -.311 .756 Economic Open

.126 .109 .078 1.156 .25

Country wealth

.026 .009 .299 2.821 .006

Democracy .105 .029 .355 3.664 .000 Women in Parliament

.054 .029 .134 1.852 .066

Constant 16.734 1.014 16.505 .000

Potential Uses of CRI

Research on internationalization of law

Globalization of values Rights and well being Employment of rights to produce

social change

Moving forward

Replication of CRI Explanations of differences in

children’s rights Impacts of children’s rights