Vocabulary

Citizen is a legally recognized individual inhabiting a state, republic, or commonwealth.
Class is a system of ordering society, whereby people are divided into sets based on perceived social or economic status.
Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.
Status relates to the social position or rank of an individual within society.

Purpose - Status of the Child Prior to 1989

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The concept of the child as an individual and independent rights bearing person emerged very recently in human history. For centuries children were viewed as properties of their parents with little or no status in society. Their situation improved slightly in the latter part of the nineteenth century as they became considered a distinctive and defenceless class requiring the protective care of society and the state (Howe & Covell, 2005). This sub-unit examines the history regarding the status of the child prior to the adoption of the Convention by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. 
Child Asks: What was the status of children prior to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child?
Children's Rights Education: Provides the child with knowledge regarding the status of the child prior to the formation of the Convention in 1989.
Child Answers: Children did not have rights prior to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Classroom Learning Activities

1. Author Study: Charles Dickens (Multiple Ages) -
2. Children in History: Research Project
  • Status of the Child (political and social)
  • Economic conditions of the child
  • Pre-Convention social and economic conditions
3. Children's Rights History: Research Project

Charles Dickens

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British novelist Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England. Over the course of his writing career, he wrote the beloved classic novels Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. On June 9, 1870, Dickens died of a stroke in Kent, England, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.
Retrieved from Biography.com



Charles Dickens Documentary - May 24, 2012
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Relevant Convention Articles

Please Note: All the articles in the Convention define the status of the child as rights-bearing, however, the articles below are specific to the Convention's universality principle of non-discrimination.
Article 1
For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
Article 2
1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.
2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members.
Article 3
1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.
3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care or protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision.
Article 4
States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international co-operation.
Article 6
1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life.
2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.

Online Resources and References

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 - June 9, 1870)
Children in Ancient History
The Moral and Political Status of Children - David Archard and Colin M. Macleod (Oxford Scholarship Online, November 2003)
Children in the Roman Empire - Peter Thonemann
History of Children - Restoring Childhood and the Historical Records
Children and Youth in History
Humanium Help the Children - Children's Rights History