LibGuides: Children and International Law: Home

International Agreements

Sampling of relevant international agreements:

European Court of Human Rights decisions

Additional international agreements can be found using a variety of tools, including the EISIL database in its International Human Rights - Rights of the Child subcategory, secondary sources (books, articles) and international organization sites. For more about researching treaties, see Guide to Researching Treaties in the UGA Law Library

International Organizations & Institutions

United Nations

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - maintains database of human rights treaties and treaty body jurisprudence

UNICEF

International Criminal Court

International Court of Justice

International Labour Organisation on child labor

Natlex database ILO's collection of national labor, employment and human rights laws

International Committee of the Red Cross - children as protected persons in war

Hague Conference on Private International Law

African Child Rights Database - Provided by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, this database is a collection of judgments from domestic courts in various African countries on cases related to the rights and welfare of children.

Child Soldiers International - NGO

Humanium - NGO

International Center for Transitional Justice: Children & Youth Program - NGO

Child Rights Connect - NGO, includes list of related NGOs

International Justice Resource Center: Children's Rights Research Guide - lists major relevant treaties, enforcement bodies, and a subject listing of important case law.

Library of Congress Research Guide on Children's Rights: International and National Law and Policy - 2007 report includes annotated list of international agreements and other documents as well as individual country reports for 16 countries.

Blogs & Current Awareness

Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict Newsletter

ASIL Insights

General Resources on Scholarly Legal Writing

Scholarly Writing for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, and Law Review Competition Papers.
KF250 .F35 2011 RESERVE

Scholarly Writing: Ideas, Examples, and Execution
KF250 .C528 2012 RESERVE

Georgia Law's Student Handbook, including section on Advanced Writing Requirement.

Online guide to Research Strategies for Seminar Papers from Georgetown Law.

Books at the Law Library

Additional available items, including eBooks, can be found using our online catalog, GAVEL.

Try a subject search of "children (international law)" or a keyword search using terms specific to your paper topic.

International Child Law by Trevor Buck
Call Number: K639 .B83 2014 RESERVE
Publication Date: 2014
Two copies of this text for your seminar course are available on Reserve.

International Child Law examines and discusses the international legal framework and issues relating to children at both a global and regional level. Analysing both public and private international legal aspects, this cross-disciplinary text promotes an understanding of the ongoing development of child law and the protection of the child.
A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 20 by Nigel Cantwell; Anna Holzscheiter
Call Number: K639 .C38 2008 BALCONY
Publication Date: 2007
NOTE: THIS IS ONE IN A SERIES OF ARTICLE-BY-ARTICLE COMMENTARIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD. TO IDENTIFY ADDITIONAL ITEMS IN THIS SERIES, EITHER DO A TITLE SEARCH IN GAVEL FOR "COMMENTARY ON THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD" OR ACCESS THIS ITEM AND CLICK ON THE HYPERLINKED SERIES TITLE.
This specific volume constitutes a commentary on Article 20 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, dealing with children deprived of their family environment. It is part of the series, "A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child," which provides an article by article analysis of all substantive, organizational and procedural provisions of the CRC and its two Optional Protocols. For every article, a comparison with related human rights provisions is made, followed by an in-depth exploration of the nature and scope of State obligations deriving from that article. The series constitutes an essential tool for actors in the field of children's rights, including academics, students, judges, grassroots workers, governmental, non- governmental and international officers. The series is sponsored by the "Belgian Federal Science Policy Office."
Children and International Human Rights Law by Aisling Parkes
Call Number: K639 .P36 2013 BALCONY
Publication Date: 2013
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of the most highly ratified human rights treaties in the world, with 192 states currently signed up to it. Article Twelve is fundamental to the Convention and states that all children capable of forming views have the right to express those views, and recognizes that all children have the right to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting them. This book explores the historical and theoretical background to Article Twelve, and examines the various models of participation which have been created to facilitate a better understanding of this provision. Aisling Parkes analyzes the extent to which Article Twelve has been implemented under international law, and in domestic law, as well as setting-out recommendations for the most effective ways of implementing Article Twelve in all areas of children's lives.
Protecting the World's Children: Impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Diverse Legal Systems by UNICEF Staff
Call Number: K639 .P75 2007 BALCONY
Publication Date: 2007
The book contains four studies that consider the challenges of implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child in different legal traditions or systems: common law, civil law, Islamic law, and plural legal systems. Each study is unique in the way it presents the particularities of the legal tradition under examination and reflects the author's own approach to the subject. The book demonstrates how the CRC can be implemented to achieve children's rights in different country contexts.
International Conventions Affecting Children by Jeremy Rosenblatt
Call Number: K639.A35 R67 2000 BALCONY
ISBN: 904111386X
Publication Date: 2000
This eminently practical book provides text and expert commentary on all international Conventions that bear directly on the rights of the child. The legal issues covered include, among others, the child and immigration, intercountry adoption, international child abduction, human rights, armed conflict, and maintenance moneys. It is the first book ever to bring together Conventions that can be realistically relied upon in domestic courts, helping practitioners to avoid the pitfall of being deemed academic or distant from legal realities. Drawing on his extensive in-court experience, Jeremy Rosenblatt shows exactly how each Convention may be used to remind courts and judges of their obligations of an international nature, whether or not such Conventions have been incorporated into the domestic system. Among the Conventions presented and discussed, insofar as they bear on children's rights, are the Dublin Convention, the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption 1993, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Brussels and Lugano Conventions. The author shows how to ensure uniform processes for the protection of the rights of the child everywhere by invoking respective and uniform Conventions that are directly applicable in individual jurisdictions as a result of legal systems globally owning competence and legal comity with one another.
The Challenge of Child Labour in International Law by Franziska Humbert
Call Number: K1821 .H86 2009 BALCONY
Publication Date: 2009
Child labour remains a widespread problem around the world. Over 200 million children can be regarded as child labourers, and about 10 million children are involved in producing either agricultural or manufactured products for export. Franziska Humbert explores the status of child labour in international law. Offering a wide-ranging analysis of the problem, she explores the various UN and ILO instruments and reveals the weaknesses of the current frameworks installed by these bodies to protect children from economic exploitation. After assessing to what extent trade measures such as conditionalities, labelling and trade restrictions and promotional activities can reduce child labour, she suggests an alternative legal framework which takes into account the needs of children.
Revisiting Children's Rights: 10 Years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by Deidre Fottrell (Editor)
Call Number: K639 .R48 2000 BALCONY
Publication Date: 2001
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, passed in 1989, was the first universal treaty dedicated solely to the promotion and protection of the interests of children. In its first decade the Convention achieved near-universal ratification and is now the most widely ratified human rights treaty ever. In addition, as a consequence of its influence, children's human rights have been mainstreamed and are now prioritised at all levels within the United Nations and other regional organisations. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the first decade of the Convention. It also brings together leading scholars and activists who place the Convention in a wider context and revisit contemporary debates and controversies in children's rights to assess the extent to which these issues have been influenced by the Convention in its first decade.
Child-Friendly Justice: A Quarter of a Century of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by Said Mahmoudi (Editor)
Call Number: K639.A41989 C455 2015 Balcony
Publication Date: 2015
"Child-friendly Justice" assesses how the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has affected the development of child law and the promotion of children s rights in the past twenty-five years. Its 24 studies probe a broad variety of issues relating to children's contact with civil, administrative and criminal justice systems, the protection of child integrity and their right to participation, information and proper representation. The contributors - all experts on child-related matters - represent international organizations, academia and NGOs. They provide a clear picture of the origins of the current problems in realizing child-friendly justice, and they discuss possible solutions.
The Right to Health of the Child by Sarah Ida Spronk-van der Meer
Call Number: K639 .S67 2014 Balcony
ISBN: 9781780682723
Publication Date: 2014
The concept of 'the highest attainable standard of health of the child,' as laid down in Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, remains unclear. This book clarifies the international normative framework on the right to health of the child. It does so by looking at the international children's rights framework, international health, and human rights law, and by taking a particular look at relevant legislation in the European region, covering both EU legislation and human rights law of the Council of Europe, including the Guidelines on Child-Friendly Healthcare. Also, the interpretation of the right to health by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is analyzed for 35 countries at different levels of development. On the basis of these sources, priorities are identified that should be realized to achieve the highest attainable standard of health of the child. The book addresses the question of how the implementation process influences the interpretation of the highest attainable standard of health of the child. This results in a definition of the highest attainable standard of health of the child that takes into account the varying capabilities of individual children, and which considers children as active rights-holders, notwithstanding their age or level of development. [Subject: International Law, European Law, Human Rights Law, Children's Law, Healthcare Law]

Reference Tools

Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Law

Parry & Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law

Prince's Bieber Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations by Mary Miles Prince
Call Number: KF246 .B46 2009 Ready Reference
Publication Date: 2009

Finding Articles

Expand your search for articles beyond Westlaw and Lexis with the resources in our Find Articles guide.

The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals may be especially helpful for this seminar.

To catch articles pre-publication, make sure to search the Legal Scholarship Network in SSRN.

Books in the Main Library

Child Rights: The Movement, International Law, and Opposition by Clark Butler (Editor)
Call Number: HQ789 .C42745 2012 (UGA Main Library 5th floor)
Publication Date: 2012
Over twenty years after the 1989 UN General Assembly vote to open the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) for signature and ratification by UN member states, the United States remains one of only two UN members not to have ratified it. The other is Somalia. Child Rights: The Movement, International Law, and Opposition explores the reasons for this resistance. It details the objections that have arisen to accepting this legally binding international instrument, which presupposes indivisible universal civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, and gives children special protection due to their vulnerability.

The Main Library, next door to the Law School, also collects relevant materials. Use their online catalog, GIL, to identify additional items.

Children's Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility by Don Cipriani
Call Number: K5076 .C57 2009 MAIN (UGA Main Library 2nd floor)
Publication Date: 2009
This work is the first global analysis of national minimum ages of criminal responsibility, the international legal obligations that surround them and the principal considerations for establishing and implementing respective age limits.

Children and International Law: Home

Sources of international law