Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
their views and participate in decision-making processes, argued that
the perspectives and life worlds of children and youth are worthy of
study in their own right, and have sought to deconstruct global and
local discourses of childhood and youth.
The UN Convention provides a universal framework of rights to provi-
sion, protection and participation in the 'best interests of the child'.
While the global focus on children's rights and, in particular, recognition
of children's rights to express their views in all matters affecting them
(Article 12) has been welcomed, researchers have revealed how the
Convention conflicts with sociocultural understandings of childhood and
the lived realities of children and youth in the global South. The rights
discourse promotes a universal model of childhood, based on Western
ideals, that has become globalized through international development
and human rights discourses and national policies (Boyden, 1997).
Western ideals of childhood are often based on notions of children's inno-
cence, vulnerability and needs for education and socialization in prepa-
ration for their future adult lives. From this perspective, children need
to be 'protected' from 'adult' responsibilities, exploitation and harm; they
should be cared for predominantly by parents within the family home,
and spend most of their time in full-time education, recreation and play.
Such ideals of childhood bear little resemblance to the lives of chil-
dren and youth in the global South, where many children are expected
to contribute to the household economy from an early age, where the
living arrangements of children are characterized by a diversity of
household forms and where there is limited public social protection to
prevent child poverty. Children who do not conform to these under-
standings of childhood are constructed as 'Other' and are perceived as
the focus for rescue, rehabilitation and intervention (Wells, 2009). The
UN has identified some categories of children as particularly vulnera-
ble, including 'street and working children', 'children affected by armed
conflict', 'trafficked children', 'disabled children', and 'orphans and chil-
dren made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS'. While recognition of the needs of
children is important in enabling them to access support, researchers
have also revealed the dangers in constructing particular groups of
children and youth as 'different' and 'at risk' when measured against a
single, universal model of childhood. Researchers call for greater recog-
nition of the plurality and diversity of global childhoods that are his-
torically and geographically contingent, showing how age intersects
with other social identities such as class, gender, disability, race, eth-
nicity and urban-rural differences.
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