Library›Concepts›Children's rights
Concepts
Practical

Children's rights

Children's rights — most fully articulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in existence — rest on the premise that children are not simply parental property or future citizens but present rights-holders whose dignity and interests have claims on adults and institutions now. The convention balances protection rights, provision rights, and participation rights — the recognition that children, especially as they develop, have the right not only to be shielded from harm but to be heard. The United States remains the only country that has not ratified it.

Juana
Juana
Online
The coach is replying…
199 concepts
Access as a Justice IssueAccess to diverse knowledge traditions beyond institutional gatekeepingAutonomy Within Relationships and InstitutionsCare for the Curious MindChildren's Right to Privacy of MindCognitive Autonomy and ConsentCollective Care and Distributed ResponsibilityCollective Care as a Rights InfrastructureCollective Care as Children's Rights InfrastructureCollective Rights and Children's Community PowerConsent and Bodily Autonomy as FundamentalCourage as an Essential Childhood CapacityCreating Spaces for Intellectual RefugeDefending Against Intellectual SilencingDefending the Child's Inner Life Against Institutional ColonizationDefending the Right to Belong IntellectuallyDefending Voice Against Institutional SilencingDefense Against Intellectual OppressionDefense of the Vulnerable Against PowerDignity in Dependence and Structural CareDignity in Dependency and CareDignity in Difference and ParticularityEducation as JusticeEducation as Liberation and EmpowermentEducation as Liberation and ResistanceEducation as Liberation and Self-DeterminationEducation as liberation from ignorance and injusticeEducation as Liberation from Ignorance and ManipulationEducation as Liberation, Not ConformityEducation as Liberation, Not DomesticationEducation as Resistance and LiberationEducational Justice as Rights DefenseEpistemic Justice and Children's KnowledgeEpistemic Justice for Child VoicesEpistemic Justice for ChildrenEpistemic Justice for Children's KnowledgeEpistemic Justice for Marginalized ChildrenEpistemic Justice for Young MindsEpistemic Justice for Young VoicesEpistemic Justice in ChildhoodEpistemic Justice: The Right to Be Known as KnowerFreedom from Forced Vocational LimitationFreedom from Intellectual CoercionFreedom from Intellectual SuppressionFreedom from religious coercion in intellectual developmentFreedom of Conscience and ExpressionFreedom of Thought and ConscienceGender and the Right to LearningGendered Justice and Equal Intellectual WorthIdentity and Self-Knowledge in ChildhoodIdentity as a Framework for Understanding KnowledgeIdentity as Intellectual IntegrityIdentity formation as a child's sacred rightIdentity Formation as a Children's RightIdentity Formation as Intellectual WorkIdentity Formation Through Self-KnowledgeIdentity Justice: The Right to Name OneselfIdentity Sovereignty in ChildhoodInherited Knowledge and Cultural Memory RightsInstitutional Accountability to ChildrenIntellectual Autonomy and ResistanceIntellectual Autonomy and Self-DeterminationIntellectual autonomy as a child's rightIntellectual Autonomy in ChildhoodIntellectual Courage as Resistance to InjusticeIntellectual Freedom as a Child's RightIntellectual Liberty of the ChildIntellectual Sanctuary and SafetyIntergenerational Knowledge TransmissionIntersecting Marginalization and Compound RightsIntersectional Access to LearningIntersectional Barriers to Childhood RightsIntersectional Barriers to LearningIntersectional Identity and BelongingIntersectional Identity and Children's RightsIntersectional Oppression and ChildrenIntersectional Oppression and Children's Multiple VulnerabilitiesIntersectional Protection of RightsJustice Against Intellectual SilencingJustice and accountability for intellectual harm and suppressionJustice as Correction of Systemic InequalityJustice as Recognition and RestitutionJustice as Recognition of Child PersonhoodJustice as Recognition of WorthJustice Beyond Punishment and ForgivenessJustice Requires Structural Change, Not Just Individual VirtueJustice Through ArticulationJustice Through Knowledge and LiteracyJustice Through Knowledge and TestimonyJustice Through Language and ExpressionJustice Through Storytelling and TestimonyKnowledge as Liberation and ResistanceKnowledge as Liberation From ServitudeKnowledge of Injustice as Foundation for RightsLegacy and Collective Rights Through GenerationsLegacy and Intergenerational JusticeLegacy and Long-term Justice for Harmed ChildrenLiteracy as a Right and Political ActLiteracy as Liberation and ResistanceLiteracy as Resistance and RightLiterary Witness and Documentation PracticeLiterate Resistance: Reading as LiberationLived Justice Through Questioning AuthorityMentorship Across Difference as a RightMentorship and Intellectual CommunityMentorship as Rights ProtectionMentorship as Transmission of FreedomProtection Against Intellectual SuppressionProtection from Exploitation of Labor and IntellectProtection from Intellectual SuppressionProtection of intellectual and creative property of childrenProtection of Intellectual Property and AttributionQuestioning Authority as a Child's RightReclaiming Authority Over One's Own StoryReclaiming Childhood Desire for KnowledgeReclaiming Intellectual AuthorityReclaiming Narrative AuthorityRefusal of Complicity in One's Own OppressionReparative Justice for Historical Harms Against ChildrenResistance to Intellectual CensorshipResistance to Intellectual ColonizationResistance to Intellectual SuppressionResistance to Patriarchal AuthorityResistance to Prescribed Identity and RoleResistance to SilencingResistance to Silencing and CensorshipRight to Know and Claim IdentitySelf-Defense Through EducationSelf-Definition and Identity RightsSelf-Determination Over Predetermined RolesSelf-Determination Through EducationSelf-Directed Learning and CuriositySelf-Knowledge as a Foundation for RightsSelf-Knowledge as a Fundamental RightSolidarity Across Difference and InjusticeSpaces for Creative ExpressionSpiritual Autonomy and Conscience RightsStrategic Silence and Strategic Speech in Children's SafetyThe Child as Seeker of TruthThe Child as Thinking Subject, Not ObjectThe Child's Right to Doubt and QuestionThe Child's Right to Self-DefinitionThe Child's Right to Solitude and ContemplationThe Child's Right to Voice and DissentThe Conflict Between Obedience and ConscienceThe Cost of Silencing Young VoicesThe courage to dissent: children's right to respectful disagreementThe Courage to Name InjusticeThe Defense of Questions Over AnswersThe Duty of Protection for Vulnerable ThinkersThe Duty to Testify: Children's Voice in JusticeThe Ethics of Intellectual MentorshipThe Freedom to Create and ExpressThe Freedom to Question AuthorityThe Intellectual Commons for ChildrenThe Intellectual Life as Childhood RightThe Interdependence of Justice and Intellectual FreedomThe Justice of Educational AccessThe Paradox of Constrained PossibilityThe Paradox of Protected IgnoranceThe Pedagogy of Respect and CuriosityThe Politics of Access to KnowledgeThe Pursuit of Knowledge Across BoundariesThe Refuge of Intellectual SpaceThe Right to Contemplation and Inner LifeThe Right to Creative and Spiritual ExpressionThe Right to Creative Self-ExpressionThe Right to Intellectual AncestryThe Right to Intellectual CommunityThe Right to Intellectual DevelopmentThe Right to Intellectual FlourishingThe Right to Intellectual FormationThe right to intellectual mentorship and guidanceThe Right to Legitimate Authority and CareThe Right to Mentorship and Intellectual CommunityThe Right to Mentorship and Intellectual CompanionshipThe Right to Multiple Identities and ComplexityThe Right to Question and CritiqueThe Right to Refusal and Boundary-SettingThe Right to Refusal and Non-ComplianceThe Right to Refuse and Negotiate PowerThe Right to Refuse Assigned RolesThe Right to Refuse ConformityThe Right to Refuse Harmful AuthorityThe Right to Refuse Harmful RelationshipsThe Right to Refuse Harmful TraditionsThe Right to Refuse Imposed IdentityThe Right to Refuse Imposed NarrativeThe Right to Refuse SilenceThe Right to Rest and Intellectual RespiteThe Right to Solitude and Inner LifeThe Right to Solitude and Intellectual SpaceThe Scholar's Sanctuary PrincipleThe Silencing Mechanism and Speech RightsVisibility and Voice in Democratic SpacesVoice and Agency in Decision-MakingVoice and Witness in Authority SystemsVoice and witness: children's right to be heardWriting as Resistance and Documentation