Expanding the Protection of Children’s Rights towards a Dignified Life: The Emerging Jurisprudential Developments in the Americas

Alejandro Fuentes and Marina Vannelli
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Alejandro Fuentes: Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI), P.O. Box 1155, 221 05 Lund, Sweden
Marina Vannelli: Department of Law, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden

Laws, 2021, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACrtHR) has developed in recent years an innovative jurisprudence that has integrated the entity and extension of States’ obligations regarding children’s rights—as established in Article 19 ACHR—through the evolutive, dynamic, and effective interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR). In fact, by acknowledging the existence of an international corpus juris for the protection of children’s rights, the Court has examined this provision in the light of instruments enshrined within the corpus juris, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This process of normative integration was not only limited to the application of international instruments adopted outside of the Inter-American system, but also includes internal references to interconnected rights recognised within the American Convention. Consequently, by analysing the scope of Article 19 ACHR in the light of Article 4 ACHR (right to life) and the corpus juris for the protection of children, the Inter-American Court has further expanded the protection of children’s rights towards the protection of the right to a dignified life. While focusing on the landmark jurisprudence developed by IACrtHR, this paper seeks to unveil the hermeneutical paths undertaken by the regional tribunal in connection with the systemic integration of Article 19 ACHR. In particular, it focuses on the emerging jurisprudential development of positive obligations upon States Members regarding the effective protection of children’s right to a dignified existence.

Keywords: American Convention of Human Rights; Convention on the Rights of the Child; Inter-American Court of Human Rights; right to a dignified life; systemic interpretation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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