Global Children in the Shadow of the Global Child

European Journal of Education, 16th International Conference on Social Sciences, Paris, 23-24 November, 2018

The concept of childhood, and particularly considering the social and cultural construction of childhood, has not received enough focus in the ongoing debates on globalization and its consequences. Yet, essential elements of globalization are omnipresent in the guise of new discourses around childhood, which have become particularly resonant transnationally. A lot of international treaties or conventions, such as the United Nations Children's Rights Convention (1989) shape national and local realities of children worldwide based on global conceptualisations of childhood, which are based mainly on western ideals of what it means to be a child. Applying such global notions of childhood in different contexts around the world often does not consider local realities and cultural ideologies of childhood, and indirectly does more harm than good. Childhood constitutes an essential and very delicate nexus in the continuously changing realities. Since childhood occupies a symbolic space where the consequences of globalization can be reflected, it cannot be left unconsidered. Not only childhood comprehends the basis of cultural connection, but it is the main mechanism of social recreation. Building on postcolonial and critical whiteness studies, the paper tries to analyse a few aspects relating the westernization and construction of the global child ideal and presenting an overview of the impacts of children global policies towards shaping local childhoods.

Based on assessment of children's councils through three consecutive investigations, this article aims to analyse the institutionalisation of participative processes offered to children aged seven to twelve in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland. The underlying premise of the analysis is that the recognition of children as social actors or valid interlocutors depends on social, cultural and political contexts. In this study, the authors consider how children exercise their rights in these councils, and what recognition they gain from exercising them, either individually or collectively. The assessment of the councils sheds light on the lack of references to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by the professionals monitoring the children's councils. The article then argues that this lack of reference to the CRC is a considerable impediment to children's access to their rights, and subsequently to their ability to achieve recognition. In Switzerland, a set of federal and local policies promote and reinforce the participation of young people. One, for example, is the law concerning the financial support attributed to children and youth. This law states that, '[t]he Confederation may allocate financial assistance to private organisations for the implementation of projects which seek to encourage the political participation of young people at the federal level' (Loi fédérale sur l'encouragement des activités extrascolaires des enfants et des jeunes, 2010, Article 10, para. 1). This interest in the participation of young people has attracted the attention of social workers who regard participation as the only means to respond to the needs of their specific groups. However, critical attention has focused on participation, and more specifically to its practice, in terms of its relationship to its effectiveness or to its ability to effect change (Sinclair, 2004), to the potential political instrumentation of children (Koebel, 2001), to the degree of participation it infers (Hart, 1992; Cockburn, 2005), to whether or not the children's voice is taken into consideration (Percy-Smith, 2005), to the reproduction of inequalities (Wyness, 2005; Malatesta & Golay, 2010), and finally to its relationship to control and emancipation (Wyness, 2009). In keeping with this line of investigation, we will examine recognition of the participative processes implemented in Lausanne provided to children. We will then focus our analysis, first, on the implementation of the right to freedom of expression, and, second, on the ways the professionals understand and interpret children's voices and perspectives. Our investigation takes into account two notions-namely, 'the institution' and 'recognition'-which refer to theoretical approaches that have influenced the manner in which we regard: (1) the relationship between the institution and action as coined in Powell and DiMaggio (1991), that is to say the mutual influences of the institution on behaviour and vice versa; and (2) a theory of recognition (Honneth, 1995; Fraser & Honneth, 2003). These theoretical approaches provide a framework to study how the participation processes address the rights of the child. In this sense, we concentrate on the ways the children exercise their rights (Liebel, 2008

The road to economic growth and development cannot be achieved if the rights and obligations of the child are not ensured. The current plight of the global economy is the gap between the child and society. The rule of thumb is that both parties have to accept that ‘it is a give and take issue’. The child has to know that, as long as these stakeholders are providing him/her the expected recommended rights, this should be reciprocated with the expected recommended obligations. The specific aspects of concern are society’s satisfaction of the rights of the child to basic needs, education, health care, tolerance and compensation for efforts. The rights mentioned matches in line with the overarching principles established by the United Nations. This Overarching principle stressed that,’ society should leave no child out, put children first, care for every child, fight HIV/AIDS, stop harming and exploiting children, protect children from war, protect the earth for children, fight poverty, invest in children and listen to the child’.

Area, 2002

This paper traces how the notion of childhood changes as part of other social transfor mations. Globalization and the disillusion of public and private spheres are related to contemporary crises of childhood. Visible working children and child violence are highlighted as examples of unchildlike behaviour that suggests indeterminacy in the constitution of the global child. Issues of children's rights and new forms of justice are raised as potentially liberatory ways of viewing the crisis.

… & Practice-A …, 2010

2018

This chapter, through the lens of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, reviews whether we are actually creating world in which children’s development needs are recognized and met. The principle focus of the chapter is each child’s right to an education. In particular Articles 28 and 29 of the UNCRC are highlighted to provide a benchmark against which to consider education provision in multiple international contexts. Reference is made to the UN Millennium Declaration, the eight Millennium Development Goals and the UNICEF report “The State of the World’s Children 2016: A fair chance for every child” to enable examination of how a world fit for children is being achieved or not. From examination of the aforementioned reports, three imperatives emerge: economic, education and moral. These imperatives challenge the reader to consider how legislation and policy works towards or hinders the goal of creating a world in which all children are enabled to reach their full potential.

Child Care in Practice, 2019

2019 signals the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989). From its inception the CRC was heralded as a “touchstone” for children’s rights, encompassing civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights (Lansdown, 2010). Children were deemed to be rights holders, entitled to protection, suitable provision and capable of making decisions about their own lives. Article 3 of The Convention prioritised the “best interests of the child” as the primary consideration governing all actions concerning children and Article 12 placed obligations on signatory states to assure that the child, who is capable of forming his or her own views has the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting them. Article 12.2 prescribed that the child’s views are not just to be listened to but to be taken account of and acted upon in all decisions affecting the child, and this obligation extends to matters of research. Modern theories of children and child...

2021

This book investigates and uncover paradoxes and ambivalence that are actualised when seeking to make the right choices in the best interests of the child. The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child established a milestone for the 20th century. Many of these ideas still stand, but time calls for new resections, empirical descriptions and knowledge as provided in this book. Special attention is directed to the conceptualisation of children and childhood cultures, the missing voices of infants and fragile children, as well as transformations during times of globalisation and change. All chapters contribute to understand and discuss aspects of societal demands and cultural conditions for modern day children age 0–18, accompanied by pointers to their future.

2014