Phillips, L.G., & Coppock, V. (2014). Editorial: Actualisation of Children’s Participation Rights: part 2. Global Studies of Childhood, 4(2), 59-63.
Children’s human rights and citizenship perspectives frame this international, multidisciplinary special issue of Global Studies of Childhood. Polish doctor and pedagogue, Janusz Korczak first proposed the idea of rights for children in the early decades of the twentieth century (Alderson, 2008a). The legacy of his vision and devoted advocacy for children’s rights led to the establishment of legislation for children’s rights. Children first received social rights through the 1924 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the League of Nations, which was then endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1959 (Van Bueren, 1995). However, there was no reference to civil or political rights, as the purpose of these rights was to protect children and not to increase their autonomy (Coady, 2008). Children have been considered better served by human rights legislation in that such legislation has worked to protect the rights of those not protected by the state (Isin & Turner, 2002). The formulation of the UNCRC in 1989 went beyond protective social rights and included some civil and political rights.