Public Policies and Child Rights: Entering the Third Decade of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

• Published date: 01 January 2011
• Author: Marta Maurás
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716210382993
• Date: 01 January 2011
• Subject Matter: Articles

52 ANNALS, AAPSS, 633, January 2011

After 20 years of implementation of the Convention on

the Rights of the Child (CRC), it is increasingly clear that

states bear the responsibility to promote, guarantee,

respect, and fulfill the realization of children’s rights by

all members of the national and international commu-

nities. An initial emphasis on legal reforms to adapt

national law to the CRC—absolutely necessary but not

sufficient—needs to give space to changes in other

important areas of public action: economic policy and

financing; social policy and administration; and public

participation, including that of children. Enforcement

and justiciability of rights need to be addressed today to

face questions about public policy, systems, and institu-

tions in the long term. The evolution of social policies

in Latin America and the Caribbean, from neoliberal

policies to systems of social protection, illustrates that

only a comprehensive and equity-based view of social

and economic policy, underpinned by the four princi-

ples of children’s rights (nondiscrimination, best inter-

ests of the child, survival and development, and the

right to be heard), will satisfy the requirements for

implementation of the CRC.

Keywords: child rights; public policies; justiciabi-

lity; participation; social compact; social

protection

With the Convention on the Rights of the

Child (CRC) adopted in 1989, the concept

of children took a radical turn: girls and boys

ceased to be regarded as objects of protection

and became recognized as subjects of rights.

This clear-cut distinction has huge implications

Public Policies

and Child

Rights:

Entering the

Third Decade

of the

Convention on

the Rights of

the Child

By

MARTA MAURÁS

Marta Maurás, a Chilean sociologist, is an expert in

social policy, human rights, and international relations.

She is member of the United Nation Committee on the

Rights of the Child. In 2008, she was the special envoy

for UNICEF to Latin America. Between 2005 and 2007,

Maurás was secretary of the Economic Commission for

Latin America and the Caribbean. Before that, she

served in the office of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Between 1974 and 1998, she served with UNICEF in

different technical and managerial positions, including

regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

She has also held teaching positions at Universidad

Católica de Chile and Pontificia Universidad Católica de

Rio de Janeiro.

DOI: 10.1177/0002716210382993