“Portugal of the little ones.” A sociological analysis of children’s rights in Portugal

• Authors: Catarina Tomás
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In a sense, the twentieth century was the century of children’s rights, since it marked the emergence and development of both a legal framework for child protection, and transnational institutions and organizations that stand for and promote those rights. As has happened in most Western countries, Portugal followed this positive trend, albeit paradoxically, having been one of the first countries to adopt a Law on Protection of Children (1911), to enshrine in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (1976) children’s rights as fundamental rights, and to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990. Nevertheless, many of these commitments still remain unfulfilled, not because children’s rights are considered too ambitious or technically difficult to promote, but simply because the political agenda on children has not yet been taken up as a priority. The result is a society in constant tension between the discourses put forward, based upon the enshrined rights of childhood, and practice that lies far behind. Starting from the traditional distinction between protection, provision and participation rights, sometimes known as the ‘three Ps’ in the CRC, and the analysis of a set of indicators (social, economic, demographic, legislative, cultural and symbolic) about childhood and children in Portugal, this paper proposes to examine children’s rights in Portugal, paying special attention to younger age groups (0-6 years).

Keywords

EN

children’s rights; Portuguese society; early childhood; childhood policies

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Pedagogiczne
• Journal: Problemy Wczesnej Edukacji
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 3(18)
• Pages: 72-85

Dates

published

2012

Contributors

author

Catarina Tomás

• University of Minho (Portugal)

Identifiers

ISSN

1734-1582