Human Rights Agenda Setting

HUMAN RIGHTS AGENDA-SETTING
My blog of 5/15/2008 set forth the groundwork for the Convention on the Rights of the Child which was laid in 1945 with final approval in 1989. What is interesting to note is that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a two volume publication in 2007 on the Legislative History on the Rights of the Child which is to serve as a research tool for children's rights advocates. High Commissioner Louise Arbour wrote in the preface that "This major study documents how the Convention on the Rights of the Child came to represent a sea change in the way the international community was prepared to address the rights of children". It is said to be the first comprehensive record of the drafting of the Convention. The publication is available on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The model for agenda setting discussed in class was quite logical and understandable in that the appropriate conditions, participants, polices and choice opportunities are necessary in order to get your issue on the UN agenda. I would not, however, have anticipated that it would take two volumes to discuss the legislative history. I believe that this is an example of how much more involved and difficult agenda setting is with the United Nations. It was several decades in the making and it makes one appreciate even more that the Convention on the Rights of the Child was finally approved.

In addition, following the Convention, the Child Labor Coalition was formed in 1989 which is a group of more than 40 organizations whose mission is to protect working youth and promote legislation, programs, and initiatives to end child labor. The Convention was the tip of the iceberg fostering the involvement of many more organizations as it was now "politically correct" to do so.