Book Reviews

Mower, A. Glenn Jr. The Convention on the Rights of the Child: International Law Support for Children. Westport, CT, London: Greenwood Press,1997. $59.95.

November 20 1989 marked a turning point in the struggle for the protection of the world's children. On that day, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention).¹⁹ Opened for ratification on January 26 1990, the Convention had garnered sufficient ratifications by September 2 1990 to bring it into force, making it one of the most speedily ratified human rights instruments in history. As at the present day, all but two states - the United States and Somalia - have ratified the Convention.²⁰ Yet despite its rapid ratification and despite the fact that the Convention arguably broke new grounds in international human rights law, aptly described as `a landmark in the history of childhood',²¹ a more pertinent question today is how effective is the Convention in addressing the problems of the world's children.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is an examination of the background, text and potential significance of the Convention. The book is divided into four sections and 17 chapters. Section 1 is on `The Significance, Background, and Development of the Convention'. Here, Mower identifies four factors as contributing to the Convention's significance; first, its recognition of the child as a possessor of rights; second, its character as both a consolidator and innovator; third, its practical aspect because of `what it could mean in terms of the present and future economic and social health of the world's community' (p. 6); and finally, `its potential for making a very real impact on the domestic life of its parties' (p. 8).

In Section 2 (pp. 23-60), `The Substance of the Convention', Mower introduces some of the key principles (e.g. best interest and non-discrimination) and key human rights provisions (e.g. the right to life and the right to survival and development) of the Convention. He advances two questions as central to the evaluation of the substance of the Convention: `is the convention too inclusive or insufficiently inclusive of the rights to which the child could or should be entitled?' `Are the rights contained in the convention clearly set forth?' He answers both questions in the negative (pp. 49 -58). Section Three, `The Implementation of the Conventions Provisions' (pp. 61-144), is an examination of the implementary provisions of the Convention and the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, while the focus of Section 4, `Prospects for the Realization of the Convention's Goal', is on the factors likely to determine the extent to which the Convention's goals for children are realized. Mower identifies several factors, including: at the global level, the role of extra-conventional international agencies; at the domestic level, the policies and practices of national governments and the impact of key segments of the private sector such as the media, professionals and NGOs; and, finally, general conditions and issues that call for responsive action on both the global and domestic level, such as armed conflict, the presence of physical environment and economic factors such as poverty.

1999 marks the 10th anniversary of the Convention's existence. The need for a serious evaluation of the Convention's performance necessarily arises. Can it be said that the lives of the world's children have been bettered by the Convention? What empirical evidence is needed to support or rebut such a claim? Who is best poised to answer questions relating to the Convention's effectiveness: scholars, activists, policy-makers, states parties to the Convention, or the world's children themselves? Mower avoids these and similar questions. His focus on the `likely' or potential impact of the Convention, therefore, begs the question. Arguably, since 1990, sufficient time has elapsed to allow for a deeper assessment of the actual impact of the Convention on the lives of children rather than a superficial examination of its `likely' impact.

Mower also avoids the universalism/relativism debate, particularly as it relates to children.²² In other words, he does not address the question of how ideological conflicts as well as religious and cultural divisions affect both the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the Convention in many societies. Although he somewhat acknowledges the Western origins of the Convention,²³ he does not address the problem this poses for non-Western societies. He rather appears to dismiss the position of non-Western states as rooted in the authoritarian nature of their regimes rather than in any ideological ground.²⁴

The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides a broad overview of the Convention and raises some interesting questions. It does not, however, fully address more fundamental issues that are raised today, particularly in countries of the South. These include, for example, questions relating to the multiple meanings of childhood and the apparent universalization and `exportation' of what, arguably, is a Western notion of childhood, the impact and relevance of the Convention on the ground, and the external and global forces, including falling commodity prices, huge debt burden and structural adjustment programmes imposed by the international financial institutions that may impede efforts to realize the goals of the Convention at the local level. It is, nonetheless, a welcome addition to the growing literature on children's rights.

Uché Ewelukwa
Harvard Law School

19 UN Doc. A/RES/44/25 of 20 Nov. 1989 adopted at the Forty-fourth Session of the General Assembly of the UN.

20 See, Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General: Status as at 27 April 1999.

21 Freeman, `Introduction: Children as Persons', in M. Freeman (ed.), Children's Rights: A Comparative Perspective ( (1996) 1.

22 See, e.g., P. Alston (ed.), The Best Interests of the Child: Reconciling Culture and Human Rights (1994).

23 He notes, e.g., that `philosophically, the convention is rooted in the change that occurred in the nineteenth century when the child ceased to be viewed simply as a property item....' (p. 11). These changes were, of course, as manifested and recorded in the West as many countries of the South were still under colonial domination or were just about to be `discovered'.

24 For example, in his discussion on disagreements at the drafting stage of Article 14 (freedom of religion), he observed: `this was one issue that brought representatives of more authoritarian religious and political systems into conflict with those whose backgrounds included a preference for a greater degree of individual freedom' (p. 16).

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