Christian Whalen | The University of New Brunswick (original) (raw)

Papers by Christian Whalen

L'Harmattan eBooks, Oct 17, 2022

Revue de l'Université de Moncton, 2017

Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y ... more Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne.

Revue de l'Université de Moncton, 2015

Springer eBooks, 2022

States Parties shall ensure that: (a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhu... more States Parties shall ensure that: (a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age; (b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time; (c) Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and in a manner which takes into account the needs of persons of his or her age. In particular, every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child's best interest not to do so and shall have the right to maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional circumstances;

Springer eBooks, 2022

Article 24 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest att... more Article 24 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services. 2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures: (a) To diminish infant and child mortality; (b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care; (c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution; (d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers; (e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of (continued)

Springer eBooks, 2022

What Did Children Say? Parents and housemothers (in state care facilities) should ask if they can... more What Did Children Say? Parents and housemothers (in state care facilities) should ask if they can check your personal stuff because you sometimes don't want them to see the stuff. They should not read our diaries and not answer our phone calls. (Africa) Government should pass a law banning unnecessary surveillance on the children. (Asia-Pacific) The opportunity to be online and have a chat without fear of disclosure of chat and correspondence. (Eastern Europe) Training for students as to how to protect their privacy in social media, and the impact of data mining. (Eastern Europe

Children (Basel), Oct 30, 2019

The 21st century phenomenon of "global displacement" is particularly concerning when it comes to ... more The 21st century phenomenon of "global displacement" is particularly concerning when it comes to children. Childhood is a critical period of accelerated growth and development. These processes can be negatively affected by the many stressors to which refugee and asylum-seeking children are subjected. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most ratified human rights treaty in history, with 196 States Parties (SPs). The CRC provides a framework of 54 articles outlining government responsibilities to ensure the protection, promotion, and fulfillment of rights of all children within their jurisdictions. Among these are the rights of refugee and asylum-seeking children, declared under Article 22 of the CRC. Refugee and asylum-seeking children, similarly to all other children, are entitled to their rights under the CRC and do not forgo any right by virtue of moving between borders. The hosting governments, as SPs to the CRC, are the primary duty bearers to fulfill these rights for the children entering their country. This manuscript provides an overview of the health and developmental ramification of being displaced for refugee and asylum-seeking children. Then, an in-depth analysis of the provisions under Article 22 is presented and the responsibilities of SPs under this article are described. The paper provides some international examples of strengths and shortcomings relating to these responsibilities and closes with a few concluding remarks and recommendations. Keywords: Convention on the Rights of the Child; child rights; refugee; asylum-seeking children; child health; child development; Article 22 of the CRC; children on the move

Springer eBooks, 2022

Article 19 1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and e... more Article 19 1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child. 2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.

Springer eBooks, 2022

Article 42 States Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widel... more Article 42 States Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike. Article 44(6) States Parties shall make their reports widely available to the public in their own countries.

L'Harmattan eBooks, Oct 17, 2022

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

These two articles place obligations on States Parties regarding dissemination of information abo... more These two articles place obligations on States Parties regarding dissemination of information about the Convention. Article 42 demands that both adults and children must be informed about the rights in the Convention and its protocols. Rights holders must have knowledge of their rights and knowledge of how to exercise them if those rights are to be meaningful. Article 44(6) addresses the initial and periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) that States Parties are required to produce on progress in implementing the Convention and imposes an obligation on States Parties to disseminate the reports widely. The Committee insists that its Concluding Observations be broadly disseminated by States Parties, to inform the public of the responses given by governments and ensure accountability in this regard (2003, para. 73).

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 19 defines violence broadly to include all forms of harm, encompassing physical, mental a... more Article 19 defines violence broadly to include all forms of harm, encompassing physical, mental and sexual violence as well as non-intentional forms of harm, such as neglect. As such, Article 19 articulates full respect for the human dignity and physical and personal integrity of children as rights-bearing individuals. This requires a paradigm shift of caregiving and protection away from the perception of children primarily as victims. Article 19 sets out a comprehensive prohibition on all forms of violence towards children and enjoins State Parties to take all form all measures available to enforce this right. This article summarizes the four main attributes of Article 19 as follows: (1) All violence towards children is prohibited, frequency or severity of harm need not be demonstrated and violence is defined broadly to encompass all forms of violence towards children, personal, social and institutional, including physical and emotional harm as well as neglect, maltreatment, sexual...

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 10 provides international human rights codification of basic principles that apply in rel... more Article 10 provides international human rights codification of basic principles that apply in related Hague Convention treaties regarding international travel by children or parents for the purpose of family reunification and visits to maintain relations and personal contact. This chapter looks at the drafting history of Article 10 and related international legal materials, as well as the general principles and related provisions of the UNCRC to outline the substantive content of Article 10. It sets out three main attributes of Article 10, from which indicators of child rights implementation can be derived. These are: (1) the need to treat requests to enter or leave a country for family reunification in a positive, humane, and expeditious manner; (2) ensuring that requests to leave or enter a country entail no adverse consequences for parents, children, or their families; and (3) maintaining relations and personal contacts with both parents if residing in separate states.

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2022

The Travaux Préparatoires insist upon the close nexus between Articles 9, 10, and 11 along with t... more The Travaux Préparatoires insist upon the close nexus between Articles 9, 10, and 11 along with the several other provisions of the UNCRC that protect the close bond between child and parent. This chapter analyses the content of Article 9 in relation to the general principles of Child rights, related provisions in other international human rights treaties and materials, and sets out four main attributes of the right, as a child, to not be separated from one’s parents against one’s will. These four attributes are: (1) no separation from parents unless necessary for the child’s best interests; (2) no separation from one’s parents without due process before competent authorities; (3) the right to maintain relations and personal contact with both parents, if separated; and (4) the right to be informed of the whereabouts of one’s parent or child, if detained.

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2022

This chapter provides a brief overview of article 16 of the UN Convention on the rights of the ch... more This chapter provides a brief overview of article 16 of the UN Convention on the rights of the child and of its legislative history as outlined in the Travaux Préparatoires. It outlines the principle threats to children’s privacy today and summarizes the substantive content of Article 16, particularly in relation to the General Principles of child rights in Articles 2, 3, 6, and 12, as well as the nexus between the right to privacy and several other rights of children under the Convention as well as other international human rights instruments. It then puts forward four main attributes of the child’s right to privacy as aspects of the right which State Parties should monitor as a means of measuring the effective implementation of Article 16. The essential attributes of Article 16 and the child’s right to privacy are State protection against: (1) interference with privacy; (2) interference with family, home or correspondence; (3) unlawful attacks upon honour and reputation; and (4) p...

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 22 guarantees the substantive application of all Convention rights to the particular situ... more Article 22 guarantees the substantive application of all Convention rights to the particular situation of asylum seeking and refugee children, and also guarantees them protection and assistance in advancing their immigration and residency status claims and in overcoming the hurdles posed by international migration channels, including guarantees of due process. The rights of refugee and asylum-seeking children can be analyzed in relation to four essential attributes. First of all, Article 22 insists upon appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance. Refugee children are not granted a special status under the Convention, but they are not given any lesser status. They are to be treated as children first and foremost and not as migrants per se, in the sense that national immigration policy cannot trump child rights. The basic rights to education, health, and child welfare of these children needs to be protected to the same extent, and as much as possible, as children who are natio...

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 24 reflects the perspective of the drafters that the right to health cannot be understood... more Article 24 reflects the perspective of the drafters that the right to health cannot be understood in narrow bio-medical terms or limited to the delivery of health services. Rather, in its reference, for example, to food, water, sanitation, and environmental dangers, it recognises the wider social and economic factors that influence and impact on the child’s state of health. Thus, the text of Article 24 sets out: a broad right to health for all children combined with a right of access to health services a priority focus on measures to address infant and child mortality, the provision of primary health care, nutritious food and clean drinking water, pre-natal and post-natal care, and preventive health care, including family planning the need for effective measures to abolish traditional practices harmful to children’s health a specific obligation on States Parties to cooperate internationally towards the realisation of the child’s right to health everywhere, having particular regard t...

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Article 37 is inspired by the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rig... more Article 37 is inspired by the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). However, it extends the ICCPR’s provisions to the protection of the children by: (1) imposing the prohibition of life imprisonment for children without the possibility of release; (2) demanding that detention of a child shall be used as a measure of last resort and be imposed for the shortest period of time; and (3) providing to children deprived of liberty the right to maintain contacts with their family members. Article 37 imposes a child-centred understanding of its provisions and rights. These rights extend beyond the ambit of child justice administration to all situations where children may be deprived of liberty, including, for example, child protection settings, health care settings, and immigration settings. This chapter analyses Article 37 rights in accordance with four essential attributes, as enumerated in its four constituent paragraphs: (1) the prohibition in pa...

L'Harmattan eBooks, Oct 17, 2022

Revue de l'Université de Moncton, 2017

Revue de l'Université de Moncton, 2015

Springer eBooks, 2022

Children (Basel), Oct 30, 2019

Springer eBooks, 2022

L'Harmattan eBooks, Oct 17, 2022

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2022

Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child