Suffer the Children

Abstract This book begins with the recognition that continued practical denial of the human rights of children globally is due to the absence of any theoretical foundation justifying such rights. The goal of this book is to provide that foundation, which will depart from the eighteenth-century rationalist justification for human rights generally and provide a new conceptualization that embraces the facts of human vulnerability and capacity for promising as the real basis for all human rights. As such, children also qualify for full human rights, including to a safe environment; to dignity; and to full participation as citizens, including voting rights. The theoretical foundation of children’s human rights expands upon the “participation” rights included in the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Furthermore, full recognition of children’s rights alters the composition and focus of human rights to include those of future generations, group rights, and the preeminence of social and economic rights over civil and political rights.