'Other Children, Other Voices': Education and Exclusion and the Duty to 'Progressively Realize' Children's Rights



Byrne, Seamus
(2021) 'Other Children, Other Voices': Education and Exclusion and the Duty to 'Progressively Realize' Children's Rights. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

Children’s socio-economic rights are once again at the centre of international legal and developmental discourses. With the memory and impact of the global economic crisis still an unforgiving reality for many children, in addition to the abundance of evidence confirming that children’s access to and enjoyment of their socio-economic rights have been seriously impaired, this thesis examines the very foundations upon which those rights are legally constructed. By unpacking the principle of progressive realization which underpins the delivery and realization of all socio-economic rights, this thesis argues that it can become a more durable and persuasive concept within children’s human rights law to guide and consolidate state practice regarding the fulfillment of their socio-economic rights commitments. To frame the analysis, this thesis invokes the right to education and specifically the phenomenon of school exclusions to demonstrate how progressive realization can become much more than an abstracted legal concept but rather a robust and influential tool to further enhance children’s socio-economic rights. By adopting a child-participatory methodology to investigate school exclusions in England, this thesis tests the legal framework which governs exclusion and examines whether it is consistent with the obligation of the state to progressively realize children’s rights. This thesis concludes by highlighting a number of deficiencies within the school exclusion system in England which run counter to the very notion of progressively realizing children’s rights. From the absence of information, to the lack of accountability and the failure to consider and apply fundamental children’s rights standards such as the right to be heard and the child’s best interests principle, this thesis exposes a number of areas where children’s rights are found wanting. To respond to this, and to give effect to the principle of progressive realization, this thesis concludes by advancing a number of recommendations across two distinct fronts. The first set of recommendations proposes how children’s rights scholarship as a whole can better re-engage and embrace the principle of progressive realization so that it can have a reformist legacy within children rights and human rights law more broadly. Central to this is the proposal that the Committee on the Rights of the Child promulgate a new General Comment on Progressive Realization. Following on from this, a number of recommendations are subsequently advanced as to how the school exclusion system in England itself can be remedied to better comply with the principle of progressive realization.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy)
Divisions: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Law and Social Justice
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 07 Sep 2021 15:58
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2023 01:30
DOI: 10.17638/03127217
Supervisors:
  • Stalford, Helen
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3127217