ABSTRACT
It is often claimed that this international legal code of human rights is a concept of Western democracy that has been imposed on the rest of the world, in the interests of the affluent Western economies. The CRC has had similar charges levelled against it. However, it is increasingly seen that the UN Rights system, despite flaws, protects individuals, including people in poor and failing states, against the harsh might of large corporations and powerful countries. This protection is generally at a macro level. At a micro level there are also many instances of the CRC protecting impoverished children from the institutions in their states, from their dictatorial and often violent governments, and, in particular, from the pervasive patriarchal beliefs and practices. Paradoxically, while these institutions have power over impoverished individuals, the states are themselves often powerless to do otherwise within an unfair global economic order that favours large corporations and their affluent host states. Civil rights needs to work at the local and the global levels simultaneously.
