Theoretical and Normative Foundation of Child Rights

Abstract

Based on the conceptual appreciation of human rights as explicitly normative, this paper sets out the philosophical and normative foundation of human rights as a basis for extrapolating the philosophical and normative foundation of child rights. It views human rights as those broadly recognized fundamental global standards of morality that inhere in human beings by virtue of their humanity and which are normatively instituted. Predicated on the argument that child rights share a philosophical heritage with human rights, child rights are construed to be those rights that are normatively established and are specifically and affirmatively applicable to children because of their age, level of mental development, inherent vulnerability, and mitigated culpability.