ABSTRACT
The right to bodily integrity is the most personal and arguably the most important of all human rights. This chapter considers the right of children to bodily integrity and examines whether there is justification for giving children lesser protection than is accorded to adults. It reviews several unreported Australian cases where the courts have considered children's rights to bodily integrity. In practice, people tend to make considerably more body contact with children than they would with adults. There are several possible justifications for denying children's right to bodily integrity nad children being dependent upon adult help for their survival and physical, social and emotional development is one of them. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which receives and comments on the Reports filed by parties to the Convention, recognises Articles 19, 29 and 37 of the Convention as granting children a right to physical integrity.
