グローバリゼーション進行下の日本の子どもの権利保障 : 「国連子どもの権利委員会」や子どもの権利を擁護する地方自治体の課題

摘要

The human rights of children have been established step by step since the early part of the 20th century. In 1989, the UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in which children were accorded not only the rights of the child but also those rights established in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In Japan, however, both the government and public opinion maintain a conservative attitude toward the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Hence, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and local Japanese governmental bodies, which obey Convention on the Rights of the Child, carry out important roles for insuring of the rights of children. Recently, the effects of globalization have been increasing in many areas. International competition has intensified and the ideas of economic and social value promoted by international capital are on the rise in many countries. In Japan, educational policy and methods of childcare have been altered as a result of these broader changes. For these reasons, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has developed new recommendations for reconstructing the current system in order to protect the rights of children which may be threatened by the global social changes produced by this highly competitive environment. Moreover, local Japanese governmental bodies, which obey the Convention on the Rights of the Child, now have a new set of problems arising from the need to consider the rights of children in regions outside their jurisdiction.