Sudeste Asiático

5.2.1. The nineteenth century

Although the issue of children's rights did not find a place on the international agenda until the late twentieth century, earlier voices, both in the U.S. and Europe, suggested, that children ought to have a right to special protection because of their 9

9 David, P. (1993). 'Children and sport: Accomplishment or exploitation'? International Children's Rights Monitor, vol. 10(4), pp. 8-11; Donnelly, P. (1997). 'Applying child labour

Figure 5.1

occupy the same field

Lack o f understanding Education Developing s k is fo r Me der world

Drudgery

Sharing mrih friends

No place to play

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vulnerable position. In the nineteenth century these 'rights' took the form of protection from exploitative work, denounced as 'slavery',6 as well as the right to material support,7 both at variance with the prevailing orthodoxy of minimal state interference in civil affairs. Welfare rights formed, however, not the only strand of the debate. As early as the mid-nineteenth century an American educationalist pleaded for the recognition of children as individuals in their own right instead of continuing to regard them as 'defenceless subjects', whose interests were completely ignored in matters, concerning them closely such as the regulation of their parents' divorce.6 The author argued, that a child ought not to be treated as an adjunct to parents, "a mere gift to ourselves, for sport or profit." Instead a child should be regarded as "a double trust - a kinsman and guest,"9 i.e. an individual to be treated with respect and courtesy as well as provided with material support.

5.2.2. International Instruments concerned with children in the interwar period

Until the 1989 Convention on the Rights o f the Child the only binding International Instruments relating to children and young persons emanated from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), one of the international organisations created at the 1919 Peace Conference at Versailles. The first ILO Convention relating to young

laws to sport'. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, pp 393-395.

6 Used, for Instance, by Coleridge, see Chapter 2, footnote 211. The term 'slavery' was also used in 1841 by Dutch head-teacher Lalleman for child labour In the rope-walks, Vleggeert, J. C. (1964). Klnderarbeld In Nederland 1500-1874: van berusting tot beperking. Assen, van Gorcum, p. 51.

7 van Houten, chairman of the Dutch Liberal Party and architect of the first Dutch child labour law, emphasised the duty of Governments to take responsibility for the care of destitute children as follows: "the child also has rights, and his first right is to be cared for and educated by his parents." [..] "When parents neglect their duty, It is a breach of the rights of the child," Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal (Vergaderjaar 1872-1873).

Voorstel van wet van den heer v. Houten, strekkende om overmatigen arbeld an verwaarlozing van kinderen tegen te gaan, Bijlagen.' BHTK, blad 113, p. 1. Also, "The care for children, unable to act in their own capacity, self-evidently and according to all theories of right, falls under the competence of the government", Tweede Kamer der Staten- Generaal (Vergaderjaar 1873-1874). 'Memorie van toelichting.' BHTK, deal 2, blad 34.2, P 8.

’ Slogvolk, P. (1852). The Rights of Children.' The Knickerbocker Monthly, vol. XXXIX(6), pp 487-488, 491

6 Slogvolk, P. (1852). The Rights of Children.' p. 488.

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people, the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention 1919 dates from that same year. The ILO has adopted numerous labour Conventions during the course of the twentieth century, several of which apply specifically to young people under eighteen. The first ones were concerned with the regulation of one particular type of work, for instance, the Minimum Age (Agriculture) Convention 1921 and the Convention Fixing the Minimum Age for the Admission o f Children to Employment at Sea (Revised 1936), until consolidated in 1973 as the Minimum Age Convention.

In addition, several non-binding declarations have also been formulated in the inter-war period. Two declarations of rights for children, which presented contrasting viewpoints, date from 1923. The first, described as 'a Magna Charta' concerning the rights of the child, was developed by a Polish children's advocate, Janusz Korczak,10 who regarded children as individuals worthy of respect. In addition to the usual 'right to education' rights included 'the right to be taken seriously' and 'the right of respect', both for the child as an individual and for his 'possessions and budget'.11 That same year Eglantyne Jebb, founder of the 'International Save the Children Union'12 formulated the Declaration o f the Rights of the Child, comprising five principles for the protection and development o f children. From a point of view of child labour Principle 4 is the most important, combining protection from exploitation during childhood and empowerment for the child's future: 'The child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood, and (. .]

protected against every form of exploitation'. Within the space of a year the Declaration was adopted by the League of Nations13 as the 1924 Geneva Declaration o f the Rights o f the Child.

10 Physician and writer, who, as director of a Jewish orphanage in Warsaw, was to die in the extermination camps together with his charges, Gutman, I., Ed. (1990). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York, Macmillan, pp. 816-818.

11 Joseph, S., Ed. (1999). A voice for the child; The Inspirational words of Janusz Korczak.

London, Thorsons, HarperCollins Publishers , pp. 178-180.

12 http://www.savethechlldren.org.uk/functions/aboutus/history3.html. In 1948 the 1924 Declaration, enlarged to seven principles, was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

13 Established in 1919 to promote International cooperation, In an attempt to prevent the recurrence of war, superseded In 1945 by the United Nations.

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The Declaration was followed in 1930 by the U.S. Children's Charter,'* drafted by that year's White House Conference on Child Health and Protection and signed by President Hoover, which established nineteen aims for the protection and development of children and was also couched in the language of rights. The Charter is the first Instrument, that mentions 'play' as important to child development, linking labour, education and play in one and the same Principle.'5 Although the Depression of the 1930s prevented the full implementation of the Charter, its importance for youth reform has been recognised in the 1973 Youth Transition to Adulthood report.'6

5.3 General Human Rights Instruments applicable to child labour