The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Domestic Courts

Auteur
Meda Couzens is a children's rights scholar currently based in the School of Law, Western Sydney University, Australia. Meda holds a Doctorate from the University of Leiden and Masters degrees from the Universities of Bucharest, London and KwaZulu-Natal. She has researched children's rights in Australia, France, Myanmar, Romania, South Africa, Tanzania and the UK.

Texte du rabat

"An essential resource bringing fresh perspectives to the study of the judicial application of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child within domestic legal systems. The relationship between domestic and international law is considered through the application of the Convention by courts in four jurisdictions"--

Résumé
This important contribution to children's rights scholarship brings fresh eyes to the complicated relationship between domestic law and international law in the practice of domestic courts. Through a critical assessment of the judicial application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in four jurisdictions (Australia, France, South Africa and the United Kingdom), the book demonstrates that the traditional rules of reception remain an essential starting point in understanding how national courts apply the Convention but are unable to explain all forms of judicial engagement therewith. The book shows that regardless of the legal system (monist, dualist, hybrid), courts can apply the Convention meaningfully especially when the domestic structure of reception converges with it. The comparative international law perspective used in the book and the heterogenous sample of jurisdictions analysed enabled the author to distil insights valid for other jurisdictions.

Contenu

1. Introduction; 2. The CRC and the courts: international and domestic perspectives; 3. France; 4. Australia; 5. South Africa; 6. The United Kingdom; 7. The judicial application of the CRC: from formal reception to legal effect; 8. Looking to the future of judicial application of the CRC; Bibliography; Index.