Children’s Rights: Caribbean Realities

It is widely accepted that the children of the Caribbean remain virtually unseen and unheard on the region’s agenda for development and research. Where children are visible, it is as passive beneficiaries of traditional services in health, education, welfare and the objects of socialisation in preparation for adulthood, rather than as subjects of rights. In recognition of this and drawing on papers presented at a symposium held by the Caribbean Area Office of the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Barbados, Children’s Rights: Caribbean Realities sets out to identify – from a wide range of perspectives: legal, medical, educational, sociological, anthropological and psychological – the major issues in the realisation of child rights and development in the Caribbean region, as dictated by the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Each contribution brings a unique and scholarly perspective to longstanding questions relating to children in the cultural context of the Caribbean and examines these issues on the basis of realities within the family setting and at the community and national levels. This book should inspire and engage those who read it to take urgent action to promote the protection of our children within their individual sphere of influence.