Laws,Conventions and Rights

SUMMARY. This article traces the developing recognition of children's rights, both at an international and national level. The UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the UN Convention thirty years later provide a context within which a child's right to self-determination and autonomy have gradually become more central. The tensions between listening to children's views and the welfare of the child are examined, in relation to the Children Act, and the case is made for the need to move beyond conventions towards empowerment.