Children's Rights

Adopting a critical, reflexive view on how children's rights are theorised, discussed, and applied, the course will present and discuss the normative content, implementation, and monitoring mechanisms of international children's rights instruments, particularly the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In addition, the course will explore the interaction between the legal, social and political dimensions of the children's rights project through a discussion of themes central to the field, including debates on child labour and education, child soldiering, international child protection, juvenile justice and the politics of children's representation.

To understand and analyse the content and mechanisms of implementation and monitoring of the main international children's rights instruments. To develop the ability to critically reflect, from an interdisciplinary approach, on the legal, social and political implementations of the global children's rights project.

The basis for this course will be a reader composed of book chapters and journal articles that are directly relevant to the themes discussed. All materials will be accessible on Moodle. The password for the Moodle course will be provided during the first class.

Alongside ex cathedra lecturing, the teachings will emphasise active student participation through various means, including small-group discussions, videos, and case studies.

The course will take place every two weeks on Monday afternoons between 14:00 and 18:00. The class dates are available on the UZH Course Catalogue.