Implications of the Convention on the Rights of the Child for children's participation in peace processes through visual media discourse
Date
2003
Authors
King, Evelyn Jane
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Abstract
This thesis analyzes implications of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child for children's participation in peace processes and presents theory, and examples of methods, for children's visual media creation, contemplation and dissemination as instruments of participation. A strategy to further develop children's participation in state peace processes, through a community-based approach, is recommended. Approaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Committee, in guiding state implementation of pertinent child rights, and expert analyses of Committee actions in selected peace processes, are examined, with recommendations. The nature of children's participation rights, their enactment in current youth social justice and peace movements, and stumbling blocks to state implementation of these rights in peace processes are analysed. Lessons learned from children's visual discourse of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, expert knowledge respecting war-affected children, and insights from disciplines of psychosocial therapy, integrated education, conflict resolution and co-operative inquiry, also inform proposed approaches. Appendix One examines implications of recent findings in cognitive science for conflict resolution theory and the proposed visual culture approach to mediation. The exploratory nature of this research is acknowledged, and further studies are recommended.