The horrifying impact of knife crime on youth in England and Wales

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Human Rights, violence

The last ten years have seen an alarming and continued rise in knife-enabled crime in England and Wales. Driven by an underlying, growing serious youth violence epidemic, and enabled by continued legislative and policy deficiencies, the crime has become one of the most widespread risks to child safety. Though recent developments point to a positive […]

How ‘free’ is public education? The hidden costs of free education in Kenya

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Education

Kenya, along with all other African jurisdictions, has committed to guaranteeing 12 years of primary and secondary education for all children in line with the African Union’s (AU) Continental Education Strategy (Human Rights Watch, 2024). Despite this, and visible domestic policy efforts to ensure and provide ‘free’ education, hidden costs continue to prevent large numbers […]

Combating the rise of AI-generated child sexual abuse material

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Digital Environment, Exploitation, Human Rights

The world is undergoing a boom in accessible artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. New tools and capabilities present novel opportunities for criminal and malicious actors to exploit children. As lawmakers, policymakers and law enforcement work to keep up with criminal innovations, children are growing increasingly susceptible to AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). New technologies are […]

Prevalence and impact of cyber sextortion on teenage boys

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Digital Environment, Exploitation, Human Rights

Numerous factors, such as the absence of adequate legislation, have presented an opportunity for sexual predators to deceive and convince young boys to share graphic multimedia content of themselves with online personas (FBI National Press Office, 2012). Once in possession of this material, predators use the photos and videos as leverage to blackmail children for […]

The impact of ‘parental alienation’ on the best interests of the child in domestic abuse cases

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, Human Rights, violence

During instances of suspected domestic abuse, and where children are involved, it is fundamental that courts seek to prioritise the best interests of the child. Where this is not the case, courts risk putting both victims of domestic abuse and their children at risk of trauma and further harm. Family courts must refrain from relying […]

The importance of digital literacy and empowerment of children on the African continent

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Digital Environment, Education, Empowerment, Human Rights

Children’s rights in the digital environment go beyond protective rights – rights which protect children from being exploited – to include rights to education, the right to participate and the right to health among many other proactive entitlements. Despite global progress towards the protection of children’s rights in the digital space, the interaction between children […]

The ‘black hole’ of child abduction: Japan’s child custody laws

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Human Rights

Japan is one of the only countries in the world that protects and maintains a sole custody system (Cosier & Grant, 2022). As a result, national laws in the East Asian country fail to comprehensively protect the rights of both parents through divorce and marital separation. In the wake of increasing cross-cultural and cross-national marriages […]

“The predatory system” – overhauling the USA’s child welfare system 

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Exploitation, Freedom, Human Rights

Recent data suggest that over 30% of children in the United States of America (US) will be a part of a child welfare investigation by the time they turn 18 (Human Rights Watch, 2022). The nature of these investigations is broad, ranging from reports of suspected abuse to investigations into known harms. The most common […]

Do children belong in schools? Homeschooling in the USA as a social movement

Posted on Posted in Children's Rights, Education

Across the United States of America (U.S.), decades of advocacy campaigns from homeschooling supporters have led to the general deregulation of mandatory school attendance. With varying levels of state scrutiny and administration, parents and carers are now free to homeschool their children. While alternative manifestations of traditional education are not inherently negative, the lack of […]

A pandemic atop a pandemic: the increasing mental health crisis among adolescents in the United States

Posted on Posted in Health, Uncategorized

The United States of America (U.S.) has seen a dramatic rise in recorded instances of anxiety and depression among its youth population (Horowitz, 2019). These mental health challenges affect youth, and in particular adolescents, across the country with roughly equal proportions despite the race, economic background or gender of the young person in question (Horowitz, […]