ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore some of the difficulties associated with the language of children’s rights. I do so from a critical legal perspective rather than that of sociology or social policy. As a result much of what follows draws on case law and statute as well as on Anglo-American jurisprudence. This is part of an ongoing project of assessing the social and legal consequences of enhanced rights of participation given to young people. To this end I first review some recent developments in the field of child law in order to consider how the law responds to the child’s self-defined wishes and interests. Second, I examine how notions of community have been, and are, used to justify the silence and invisibility of children. Third, I examine the tensions which arise when talking about rights at the same time as acknowledging cultural difference. While the language of children’s rights is politically and socially important, at the same time it must be open to the heterogeneity of modern industrialized society.
