THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: INTERNATIONAL LAW SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN, by A. Glenn Mower, Jr.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 187 pp. Cloth $59.95 ISBN 0-313-30170-0.

Reviewed by Kendall Stiles, Department of Political Science, Loyola University Chicago E-Mail: kstiles@luc.edu.
 

This book, as the title clearly states, offers an overview of the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and is a fine introduction to the document as well as a good beginning to a study of its implementation. It is solidly based on the document itself as well as the official record of the operation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, its implementing body. A student would do well to begin any project on the CRC with a look at professor Mower's text.

In the first section of the book, the author provides a cautious and sympathetic treatment of the Convention's content, emphasizing the significance of its language but not delving into the negotiation process except to acknowledge divisions between Islamic and Western countries. One would infer that negotiators quickly reached a comfortable consensus. The reader may be a bit surprised to find that many, if not most, of the CRC's provisions remain unimplemented. A more careful examination of the disputes that arose prior to the Convention's adoption and how these were either avoided or resolved would have gone far to explain why so much works remains to be done. In particular, the failure of the United States to immediately sign and subsequently ratify the Convention is ignored.

The bulk of the work deals with how the treaty's monitoring body, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, came into being, began its work, and has adjusted to various practical and philosophical obstacles and issues. While some of the narrative is a bit tedious (in particular the chapter on the Committee's rules of procedure) it provides a clear and accurate picture of the Committee's activities, including its detailed consideration of national reports as they trickle in (mostly late). The Committee is shown struggling to convince governments of the level of detail it expects in these national reports. It has asserted itself rather forcefully by criticizing specific aspects of national efforts to implement to Convention and the success of these efforts. The author provides a rather detailed discussion of Sudan's recent encounter with the Committee and its generally favorable response to such criticism. The discussion stops short of addressing the question of whether the Committee's recommendations were actually implemented, however.

The study concludes with a consideration several factors that will contribute to the CRC's implementation. Most of these relate to political will and support of developing country efforts with resources from the North. While avoiding such complex questions as how domestic class structures or cultural heritage (with the exception of the question of Islam) affect the treatment of children, the author looks at how states are the lynchpin in the implementation of the CRC. States are responsible for protecting the civil and political rights of minors, including free expression and access to information, as well as providing such services as health care and education to promote the social and economic rights enumerated in the Convention. Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), the media and the UN system aim to move state policies forward. The broader questions of poverty and access to resources are mentioned rather quickly to remind the reader of the broader socioeconomic context of the CRC without clearly addressing priorities and means of remedying these global problems.

As an introduction to the Convention and the Committee, the book is satisfactory. However, several questions emerge that are not adequately treated. In particular, the author rarely shows the link between the state of children's rights prior to the drafting of the Convention and why it was felt the CRC was a step to improve things. The considerable work of UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP and numerous NGOs in raising global awareness of child deprivation during the 1980s is largely ignored, as is the concerted diplomatic pressure of Nordic and Northern European nations to reshape the international agenda. As a result, the content of the CRC seems to spring from no clear source, and the evolution of international norms seems extremely disjointed. Conversely, the considerable opposition to progressive child rights is downplayed, making the resistance to implementing the Convention seems without much rhyme or reason. It would have been very worthwhile to add more material on the politics of law-making. This could have been done with a few focused case studies, perhaps one on how the United States has related to the Convention and how interest groups, particularly the religious right. have effectively opposed ratification. At the very least, the book should have taken a closer look at how developing countries and authoritarian regimes were able to introduce qualifiers into the language to soften commitments.

The story of CRC ratification was also given rather short shrift, in that the effort of UNICEF was again largely ignored. The agency published regular updates on the countries that had signed and ratified the agreement. It also placed considerable pressure on the committee members, their relationships with each other and with the UN and signatory states. There is ample discussion of the excessive work load of the Committee, but there is no mention of whether funding for the Committee's staff has been forthcoming. If the answer is yes, this would represent a most remarkable departure from the UN's general situation.

It is simply too early to say how the CRC has affected the conditions under which children live. Nevertheless, it would have been useful to explore in more detail what has happened in those states where the Committee has recommended substantial reforms, particularly for those countries that submitted reports during the first two years of the Committee's operation. This would give us some evidence that the CRC can be expected to make a difference in the lives of the world's children.