Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
4.2 CHILDREN,
YOUTH AND
DEVELOPMENT
Children's Rights and Global Constructions
of Childhood and Youth
Children occupy a prominent position in human rights and develop-
ment discourses and anti-poverty targets are often measured explicitly
in indicators of child mortality, health and education by the UN, World
Bank and other development agencies. The UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 2012), introduced in 1989 and rapidly
ratified by all countries except the US and Somalia, provides a frame-
work of universally applicable standards for safeguarding children's
rights, while many of the MDG targets refer to children's health, educa-
tion and welfare (see Chapter 1.5). However, despite the rhetoric of
'putting children first', there is evidence that child poverty and violence
towards children appear to be increasing globally - often at a faster
rate than poverty among adults (Edwards, 1996). Meanwhile, older
children and youths are often regarded as a 'threat' to the social order
due to high levels of youth unemployment and their potential engage-
ment in 'risky' behaviour, violence and political unrest.
Such understandings have led to the marginalization of children and
youth from 'adult' decision-making processes, from the micro-level of
the household to macro-development planning at regional, national and
international levels. Parallels have been drawn between the 'invisibil-
ity' of children and youth in development policy and planning and the
situation of women forty years ago, when their contribution to develop-
ment was largely ignored. Since the 1970s, scholars across the social
sciences have critiqued development policy, planning and research that
have constructed children as passive 'human becomings', failed to listen
to their views or recognize their contributions to society. Childhood
researchers have demonstrated children's competencies to express
