ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the bases for the persistent inequality and discrimination that children experience simply because they are children. It identifies the legacy of liberal conceptions of rights as one of the reasons why children continue to experience discrimination. The chapter canvasses alternative theoretical frameworks that facilitate a more inclusive view of children. This more inclusive view of children informs the need to adopt a more expansive understanding of equality and non-discrimination, which can, more effectively, tackle the historical hierarchies of power and resultant structural inequalities that lie at the heart of the discrimination experienced by children. It is against this background that the chapter explores recent efforts by the CRC Committee to address age-based discrimination, in spite of the fact that age is not an enumerated ground of discrimination in Article 2(1) of the Convention.
