According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), every child has a right to practise sports in a healthy, safe environment (art. 19). However, research indicates that child athletes experience various forms of violence in sports. Violence is particularly harmful to children, as the effects may be significant and long lasting. In addition, children often have difficulty identifying and reacting to violence. In this article, we first aim to shed light on the prevalence and implications of violence towards child athletes in sports. By child athletes, we mean athletes under the age of 18 (CRC art. 1). Thereafter, we discuss the following questions: (1) How does the CRC protect children in sports? (2) Can children’s rights be effectively protected through sports self-regulation of sports bodies and legal remedies? (3) Who is responsible for safeguarding children’s rights in sports? To answer these questions, we employ a multidisciplinary perspective that combines jurisprudence and sport psychology. In summary, we conclude that the CRC unequivocally prohibits all violence against children in all sectors of society, including sports. The responsibility for enforcing this prohibition lies with both member states and sports bodies. It is always the responsibility of adults. The full realisation of children’s rights requires action on multiple fronts, including legislation, information, education and resources.
The article examines appeals against restrictive measures in child protection submitted to and decided upon by administrative courts in Finland. Restrictive measures used in care restrict children’s and young people’s fundamental and human rights considerably, meaning ‘confinement in fractions’. Therefore, young people’s access to justice is an important issue in situations in which they consider an error to have been made. We study appeals as a form of legal safety and as a means of error correction. Although young people, 12 years of age and older, have the right to appeal, the appeal system is mainly used by parents to appeal against restriction of contact. As such, the appeal system poorly protects young people’s individual access to justice, if at all. As only administrative courts can overturn the decision to apply restrictive measures, the adult-centeredness of the system and young people’s access to justice should be critically assessed and rethought.
A child’s right to participate is one of the general principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (crc). It is an integral part of a child’s right to have his/her best interest taken into account as a primary consideration. Therefore, it is indispensable in the decision-making connected with child welfare removals, the effects of which on the child’s life are long lasting and profound. In this article we examine the perceptions and practices of child-welfare professionals in the context of children’s rights, especially participation rights, in two neighbouring countries: Finland and Estonia. The findings are based on a survey and suggest that in the context of children’s rights, legislation also has its role in making children’s rights a reality, both as a prerequisite for reform as well as in shaping attitudes. However, legal regulation is not enough – full realisation also reguires more information, education and resources.
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