Full Description
This book of essays by legal scholars from the United Kingdom, Eire, Israel and Palestine explores the extent to which the recognition of the concept of children's rights is affected by adherence to religious, cultural and ethnic traditions. The aim is twofold: first, to illuminate the interface between internationally-agreed norms of conduct regarding children and national and cultural determination to preserve traditional approaches; and secondly, to reflect upon the conflicts within societies between different cultural and religious groups in their attempts to determine whether 'liberal/secular' or 'conservative/religious' norms predominate in attitudes to children's upbringing. This is the first collection of papers covering and comparing the UK and Israeli/Palestinian jurisdictions. The particular blends of social, religious and cultural diversity in both regions, mingled with the political factors operating as well, render these jurisdictions of special interest as case-studies in the reception of 'western/liberal' norms and values. Moreover, Israel and Palestine, despite their manifestly different cultures as compared with Britain, have been influenced by the colonial legacy of the common law, rendering this particular east-west comparison of special interest.
Contents
Contents: Editors' introduction; You have to start somewhere, Michael King; Children's rights: balancing traditional values and cultural plurality, Geraldine Van Bueren; Children's rights, cultural diversity and private international law, William Duncan; The interpretation of the concept The best interest of the child in Israel, Yehiel Kaplan; A note on children's rights in Islamic law, His Honour Judge David Pearl; Honour thy Father and thy Mother: children's rights and children's duties, Andrew Bainham; Rights and autonomy or the best interests of the child?, Ze'ev Falk; Multiculturalism, parental choice and traditional values: a comment on religious education in Israel, Stephen Goldstein; Child-parent-state: the absence of community in the Courts' approach to education, Leora Bilsky; Tradition and the right to education: the case of the Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, Leslie Sebba and Varda Shiffer; A child's right to privacy or open justice?, James Michael; Who is the Father? access to information on genetic identity, Katherine O'Donovan; Crimes of war, culture, and children's rights: the case of female Palestinian detainees under Israeli military occupation, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian; Protection for whom and from what? protection proceedings and the voice of the child at risk, Ya'ir Ronen; The child's right to make mistakes - criminal responsibility and the immature minor, Gillian Douglas; Traditional values, children's rights and social justice: English youth justice in the 1990s, Wayne Morrison; Afterword: choosing rights for children, David Nelken.
