ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how a human rights–based approach may provide additional clarity when making decisions about the provision of life-sustaining treatment to young children. It explores how the rights identified in the Convention on the Rights of the Child may provide a process to guide decision-makers in identifying a child’s best interests. It also demonstrates how, through the principle of proportionality, the human rights–based approach provides guidance about the circumstances in which it may be acceptable to act contrary to the child’s best interests. The human rights–based approach incorporates the issues raised under other approaches to provide a more comprehensive explanation of the child’s relevant interests and how these interests should be protected in the context of the rights and needs of others.
