Institutionalisation of children’s rights: Transformability and situated agency

TitleInstitutionalisation of children’s rights: Transformability and situated agency
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsStoecklin, D
JournalThe International Journal of Children's Rights
Volume26
Number3
Pagination548–587
ISSN1571-8182, 0927-5568
Keywordswww2
Abstract

In a previous article (Stoecklin, 2017), I considered the example of the “paradox of institutionalisation” (Stammers, 2013) occurring in the drafting of the General Comment on Children in Street Situations (uncrc, 2016). The vision of children’s “living rights” as the outcome of a structured process translating specific claims into an institutionalised set of norms (Hanson and Nieuwenhuys, 2013) has been identified. Analysis of the labels used for “street children” underlines the transformability of signification, domination and legitimation in the theory of structuration (Giddens, 1979, 1984). In this article, a theory of situated agency is outlined. It provides a new framework to understand the institutionalisation of children’s rights as the dual structuration of subjects (children) and objects (rights) occuring in given contexts. This makes “rights acting children” emerge as an interdisciplinary concept.

URLhttps://brill.com/view/journals/chil/26/3/article-p548_548.xml
DOI10.1163/15718182-02603004