THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Thoko Kaime''s The Convention on the Rights of the Child: A cultural legitimacy critique looks at the protection and promotion of children''s rights through a socio-legal examination of the provisions of the world''s pre-eminent children''s rights tr
eaty, the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The book focuses on this singular question: Does the Convention provide a culturally appropriate framework for the protection and promotion of children''s rights across different cultures? In examining
this question, the book argues that the effective protection of the rights of the child will not be achieved unless the substantive protections are perceived as culturally legitimate by local communities and unless the implementation procedures are
aimed at enhancing such legitimacy as opposed to merely ensuring adherence to form. The book benefits from a methodology that fuses international law methods with grounded anthropological narratives. It demonstrates that far from being abstract paper
prescriptions, children''s rights frameworks are but a species of social and cultural interaction and that effective promotion and protection strategies must be alive to this dynamic. The book is a useful introduction to cultural critiques of childr
en''s rights, in particular; and, indeed human rights generally.