The Interdependence of Human Rights
摘要
Children’s rights provisions under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) are most commonly considered in isolation from each other, with the exception of the general principles of the UNCRC. Nonetheless, human rights—and by connection, children’s rights (Freeman, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-27468-6_26 , —are defined in the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action as ‘universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated’ ((para 5). It is the interdependency of human rights that is of interest to the contributors to this collection. The notion of the interdependence of human rights is commonplace across human rights discourse. It is often one of the first terms of international human rights law that students of the topic are introduced to, it is frequent in human rights textbooks, evident in various forms throughout UN documents, and regularly referenced in passing in scholarly literature. Yet, often, it is mentioned unquestioningly, without any real discussion as to what is meant by the term or its history. This chapter explores the history of the interdependence of human rights, both generally and through the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. It then considers the method of interpreting human rights treaties and applies this to interdependent rights. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the right to play, its definition, and its interdependence with the UNCRC, introducing the topics discussed in the edited collection.