ABSTRACT
In 1990, as the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS epidemics on the lives of children was becoming more apparent, the first human rights document to focus specifically on the rights of children-the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)—came into being.1 The availability of this document, ratified within a few years by almost every nation in the world, shed new light on government responsibility for ensuring that children no longer be the objects of decisions affecting them, but subjects taking an increasing role in these decisions as their capacity to do so evolves.2
