The temporality of childhood and children’s rights

The temporality of international human rights law is strikingly clear in the context of children’s rights. International human rights documents are ‘living documents’ and, whilst the text of treaties remains constant, the work of treaty monitoring bodies and States Parties, leads to an adaptation of the understanding of the normative content and scope of the text. This process also occurs within a system of human rights that holds its own temporalities. In addition to the challenge of applying human rights to an ever-evolving context, there is an additional and unique temporality confronting children’s rights: childhood. The understanding of children and childhood is key to the application of children’s rights, yet these concepts vary in meaning both in time and space, and offer their own temporalities. This paper highlights the varying temporalities associated with childhood and children’s rights, identifying some of the challenges and opportunities they offer for the protection and fulfilment of children’s rights.