HRLC Summer School 2014: In Conversation with Professor Ursula Kilkelly

UK: I think there are very significant differences; primarily there are very few references to children and children’s rights in the ECHR. But we have seen through the case law of the European Court the development of rights relating to children, through the interpretation of convention provisions not specific to children. Another feature of the ECHR’s case law is that it is largely, not exclusively, from a parent’s or adult’s perspective, primarily because the adult is taking the applications. The Court has arguably had very little opportunity to develop a children’s rights jurisprudence. But when it has had an opportunity it has sometimes taken it, but not always. What we have seen over the years is a really interesting use by the Court of the child specific provisions like the CRC and other more specific provision for children’s rights to develop the protection afforded by the ECHR. I think it’s through the combination of those approaches and the increasing way in which international courts draw on this wide variety of standards that we can see children’s rights being advanced through mechanisms that are about human rights more broadly rather than children’s rights exclusively.

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