Part I State Obligations and Rights Protected, Ch.II Civil and Political Rights, Art.19: Rights of the Child

Abstract

This chapter investigates Article 19 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), which protects the rights of the child, and emphasizes their right to “measures of protection” required by their condition as minor. The protective measures must be put in place and implemented by the child's family, society, and the State. Article 19 of the ACHR offers special protection to children because of their vulnerability, which requires enhanced and adjusted measures of protection. As expressed by the Inter-American Court, the special protection due to children is based on their “weakness, immaturity or inexperience,” and special measures are needed to foster “the harmonious development of their personality and the enjoyment of their recognized rights.” The raison d'être of this special protection lies, as the Inter-American Court emphasizes, in the fact that children, unlike adults, progressively exercise their rights, in the sense that their autonomy develops gradually