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11 U. Dayton L. Rev. 601 (1985-1986)
Freedom from Abuse: One of the Human Rights of Children

handle is hein.journals/udlr11 and id is 611 raw text is: FREEDOM FROM ABUSE: ONE OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF CHILDREN Cynthia Price Cohen* I. INTRODUCTION In celebration of the 1979 International Year of the Child, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was authorized by the General Assembly to draft the Convention on the Rights of the Child.' The purpose for this new treaty was to put into legally binding form the ideals which had been previously articulated in the 1959 Declara- tion of the Rights of the Child.2 Formal drafting of the substantive articles by the Open-Ended Working Group on a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child is nearing completion.3 During the period since the Convention was first proposed, concern over the abuse of children has become a matter of world-wide importance. It is imperative for the Working Group to respond to this problem by ensuring that the final draft of the substantive portion of the Convention on the Rights of the Child contains an adequate proscription against every aspect of child abuse. II. INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM OF CHILD ABUSE The idea that children have special needs and should be accorded special protections is one that is relatively new. While differing levels of criminal culpability based on age were recognized under Roman law, and similar variations in criminal responsibility were applied under British common law, it was not until the nineteenth century that a sys- tematic effort was undertaken to establish distinct legal procedures for processing accused youths or to separate convicted child criminals from * United Nations Representative: Human Rights Internet; Research Consultant: Defense for Children International/USA. B.A., City College of New York (1975); J.D., New York Law School (1979); M.A., City University of New York Graduate Center (1986). 1. See U.N. Doc. A/134/424 (1979). See also Text of the Draft Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the Working Group, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1986/39, Annex 1 (1986) [here- inafter cited as Convention]. The text of the 1986 Convention is reproduced at the end of this article. See infra Appendix. 2. See 14 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16), U.N. Doc. A/4054 (1959). 3. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is being drafted by Open-Ended Working Group on a draft convention on the rights of the child under the auspices of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. It has met for one week each year, just prior to the annual session of the Commission, since the International Year of the Child in 1979. See infra notes 173-90 and accompanying text.