Children, Autonomy and the Courts
Subtitle: Beyond the Right to Be Heard
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 449
ISBN-13: 9789004355811
Subjects: Civil rights; Children's rights; Children, legal status, laws, etc.; Due process of law
Description: In this book Aoife Daly argues that where courts decide children's best interests (for example about parental contact) the Convention on the Rights of the Child's "right to be heard" is insufficient, and autonomy should instead be the focus. Global law and practice indicate that children are regularly denied due process rights in their own best interest proceedings and find their wishes easily overridden. It is argued that a children's autonomy principle, respecting children's wishes unless significant harm would likely result, would ensure greater support for children in proceedings, and greater obligations on adults to engage in transparent decision-making. This book is a powerful call for a reconceptualisation of the status of children in a key area of children's rights.0.