Fluent Essays

Module 1 Discussion ProblemPart A.The cases cited in the text (Meyer, Pierce and Prince) have a common theme related to the state’s authority to regulate the family and a parent’s constitutional right to raise their child as they see fit. Identify and explain the underlying legal principle which justifies the parent’s right(s)s and the underlying legal principle which authorizes state intervention? Do these three cases identify an explicit constitutional right that belongs to a child separate and apart from the rights that belong to a parent in the family setting? Part B.Does the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child place more importance on individual rights of the child or individual rights belonging to a parent in the family context? Does the Convention condone capital punishment for minor children under the age of 18? Part C.Explain the overall purpose of the Convention in regards to its primary goal and whether the Convention creates binding legal precedent in the United States on either the State or Federal Government. THE STATUS OF CHILDHOOD: AN INTRODUCTION To understand the rights and obligations of children, it must be understood what it means to be a “child” in law. General Age of Majority is 18 years old However, the status of “child” may terminate before 18, or may extend beyond that age, depending on the context and circumstances. THE PARENS PATRIAE DOCTRINE, PARENTAL PREROGATIVESM AND THE CHILD’S OBLIGATION TO OBEY Common Law Background This Doctrine is the basis for much public regulation of the government-parent-child relationship in the United States today. The common law doctrine of the “royal prerogative,” the Crown had the right and responsibility to care for persons deemed legally incapable of caring for themselves, particularly infants and the mentally infirm. THE STATUS OF CHILDHOOD: AN INTRODUCTION, cont. This protection was normally confined to upper class or “landed gentry” in efforts to secure financial reward for the Crown itself. The Parens Patriae Doctrine was recognized early in American law, but it was not confined to the upper class. Throughout the nineteenth century, child advocates invoked the doctrine to protect children from abuse, neglect and the adult criminal system. Today, Parens Patriae underlies much of the legislation and the court decisions in areas such as abuse and neglect, foster care, adoption, medical decision making, support, protective legislation and delinquency. THE AMERICAN CONCEPTION THE TRADITIONAL ROLES OF PARENTS AND THE GOVERNMENT Throughout most of the nation’s early history, the law viewed children as incompetents in family matters until they reached the general age of majority. The creation of the first juvenile court in1899 was the turning point in parental rights in the United States. Reformers argued that children have “distinct physical and emotional needs worthy of the law’s recognition.” text pg. 21 Two Landmark Cases – Meyer v. Nebraska, Pierce v. Society of Sisters THE AMERICAN CONCEPTION, cont. Meyer v. Nebraska – A school teacher was prosecuted for teaching the subject of reading in the German language to a child who has not yet passed the eighth grade. Nebraska had a statute that made this illegal. The court held that Parents have the right to control their child’s upbringing without unreasonable state interference. Pierce v. Society of Sisters – A state statute required parents, guardians or custodians to send their children between eight and sixteen to public school. The court applied the rule in Meyer v. Nebraska and held that the Act unreasonably interfered with the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control. The court further stated, “ The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for further obligations.” The Movement Toward “Children’s Rights” After the landmark cases, Myers and Pierce, American law began to recognize that children hold constitutional rights. Meyers and Pierce conferred constitutional status on the parents’ right to control their child’s upbringing without unreasonable state interference. Neither case spoke about the children’s interests. The following case turns towards the modern children’s rights movement Prince v. Massachusetts, P. 27 – The court upheld Sarah Prince’s conviction for violating the Massachusetts child labor law by permitting her nine-year-old niece to accompany her and seek to sell Jehovah’s Witnesses periodicals on a public street. The court states, “Acting to guard the general interest’s in youth’s well being, the state as parens patriae may restrict the parent’s control by requiring school attendance, regulating or prohibiting the child’s labor, and in many other ways.” text p. 30 An International Law Basis for Children’s Rights The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1989 and is now ratified by virtually every nation (text p.103) Most widely ratified human rights treaty in history The first legally binding provisions that protect children’s rights appeared in two covenants: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (p.103) The United States has not ratified the Convention, therefore is not bound by its articles. An International Law Basis for Children’s Rights, cont. Litigants in children’s rights cases sometimes invoke international law, usually without much success. In Domingues v. State, 961 P.2d 1279, 1280 (Nev. 1998) the defendant was sentenced to death for murders he committed when he was sixteen. The state supreme court rejected his contentions that imposition of the death sentence violated United States obligations under both conventional and customary international law. Article 6 of the ICCPR, ratified by the United States in 1992, provides that, “sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age and shall not be carried out on pregnant women.” The Court in the above mentioned case, noted that the Senate ratified the ICCPR with the reservation that the United States reserves the right to impose capital punishment on any person (other than pregnant women), including persons below eighteen years of age. Perspectives on Child’s Rights To date, there is no coherent philosophy or approach when addressing children’s rights. One view on Children’s Rights is that children lack the capacity to make decisions on their own and that the parental control of children is needed to support a stable family which is crucial to the well-being of society On the other hand, Society is unwilling to treat children as property of adults “Therefore it is necessary to examine closely the claims of children’s rights advocates in order to see whether the existing legal structure should be altered.” (text p.114) Page 1 of 29 MODULE # 1 SUPPLEMENTAL READING ASSIGNMENT UNITED NATIONS: CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD * * [Reproduced from the U.N. General Assembly Document A/RES/44/25 of December 5, 1989. General Assembly Resolution 44/25 was adopted without vote on November 20, 1989. The Convention is annexed to the resolution. [The Introductory Note was prepared of International Legal Materials by Cynthia Price Cohen, Human Rights Internet Representative to the United Nations.] DATE: November 20, 1989, Adopted INTRODUCTION: [*1448] Introductory Note by Cynthia Price Cohen On November 20, 1989 the United Nations General Assembly adopted, without a vote, the Convention on the Rights of the Child. n1 This act brought to fruition a sixty-five year push for formal international legal recognition of the human rights of children. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a unique human rights treaty in that it protects not only the child's civil and political rights but that it also extends protection to the child's economic, social and cultural rights and humanitarian rights. It is expected that the Convention will be open for signature early in 1990. It will go into force after the twentieth instrument of ratification is deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. n1. U.N. Doc. A/44/736 (1989). I. Background While the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a direct outgrowth of the 1979 International Year of the Child, its roots can be traced to the Declaration of Geneva, which was the first international instrument recognizing that children are entitled to special care and protection. This Declaration stated that "mankind owes to the child the best that it has to give." It was drafted by the Save the Children International Union, a non-governmental organization established by Eglantyne Jebb to respond to the needs of children during the aftermath of World War I. The Declaration was adopted by the League of Nations in 1924. n2 While it is true that there were a few early treaties protecting children, such as those aimed at stamping out child labor and trafficking, the Declaration of Geneva was the first step toward protecting children's rights in the broadest sense. n2 For early history of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, see: C.P. Cohen, "The Human Rights of Children," 12 Capital University Law Review (1983). In 1959 the United Nations gave official recognition to the human rights of children by adopting the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, n3 a ten principle document inspired by and expanding on the rights put forth in the 1924 Declaration. It was in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of this United Nations Declaration that 1979 was designated the International Year of the Child (IYC). As part of this celebration, Poland proposed that an international treaty be drafted which would put into legally binding language the principles set forth in the 1959 Declaration. n4 Responsibility for drafting the Convention on the Rights of the Child was given to the Commission on Human Rights. The Working Group established by the Commission in 1979 completed its first draft of the Convention in February of 1988. n5 n3. 14 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16), U.N. Doc. A/4059 (1959). n4. See: U.N. Doc. A/34/424 (1976). n5. U.N. E/CN.4/1988/28 (1988) and U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1989/WG.1 (1988). Meetings of the Working Group were held each year from 1979 to 1987 for one week just prior to the annual session of the Commission. In the hope that the Convention might be completed in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Declaration (and the tenth anniversary of IYC), a loosely formed alliance of non-governmental organizations and various United Nations bodies began to push toward this goal under a plan designated as "Target 1989." Their concerted, combined effort resulted in an additional drafting week [*1449] during the 1988 session of the Commission. The efficiency and productivity of this extra week was increased by a two-day pre-Working Group discussion, hosted by UNICEF aimed at pinpointing and laying to rest possible controversies which might emerge during the drafting process. Following the completion of the first draft, known as the first reading, the Working Group requested that the Secretary-General conduct a "technical review" of the Convention, which would then be distributed to delegations, prior to the second reading meetings of the Working Group. n6 This document contained the comments and recommendations for textual alterations submitted by various branches of the United Nations. To accommodate the goal of "Target 1989" the second reading was scheduled for two weeks in the fall of 1988. This was done to ensure that the Centre for Human Rights would be able to process the complicated reports in the various languages needed for the Convention on the Rights of the Child to be adopted at the 1989 session of the Commission. As in the case of the two-week first reading Working Group meetings, UNICEF again hosted a two day pre-Working Group discussion period for delegations. Comments from the "technical review," such as the switch to gender-free language, coupled with recommendations from delegations and non-governmental organizations, resulted in extensive alterations being made in the first reading text. n6. U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1988/28 at Annex (1988). For text of technical review see: U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1989/WG.1/CRP.1 (1988). Interest in the Convention on the Rights of the Child did not develop quickly. Some Western nations, the United States in particular, viewed the Convention as an Eastern Bloc project focusing mostly on economic, social and cultural rights; rights which are considered by many governments as not being rights at all but merely "good social policy." However, beginning in 1983 these prejudices were modified to a large extent, primarily because the original Polish model convention was slowly being expanded by the Working Group to incorporate more and more civil and political rights. Simultaneously, the quality and detail of the Convention's text began to be subjected to the scrutiny of the newly formed NGO Ad Hoc Group on the Drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (NGO Group). The NGO Group was an informal association of approximately thirty international non-governmental organizations having consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Cooperation between this group and government delegations during the drafting of the Convention provides a unique model of international legislative drafting. During their twice-yearly meetings at UNICEF headquarters in Geneva, members of the NGO Group analyzed the proposed text of various articles of the Convention, critiqued previously adopted articles and drafted models of articles protecting rights which the NGO Group felt had been wrongly omitted from the draft Convention. n7 NGO Group recommendations were distributed in printed form to delegations prior to the annual meetings of the Working Group. These recommendations were often utilized by delegations as a tool for diminishing political tensions within the Working Group. Some of the rights included in the Convention which can be directly traced to NGO Group activities are: protection against "traditional practices" (i.e., female circumcision), n8 and against sexual exploitation, n9 protection of rights of indigenous children, n10 standards for the administration of school discipline n11 and rehabilitation for victims of various types of abuse and exploitation. n12 n7. For background of NGO participation in the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child see: C.P. Cohen, "Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in the Drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child," Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 1 (in press). n8. Supra note 1 at article 24(3). n9. Id. at articles 34, 35 and 36. n10. Id. eg. at articles 17(d), 29(d) and 30. n11. Id. at article 28(2). n12. Id. at article 39. II. Controversial Issues, Omissions and New Rights From the outset there were those who argued against the drafting of a separate treaty protecting the rights of children. n13 Most of the objections were supported by the [*1450] assertion that children were already protected by existing human rights treaties and that it was unnecessary, repetitive and harmful to the human rights treaty-making process to encourage the proliferation of a series of special constituency treaties. Counter arguments asserted that existing treaties were too general to adequately protect the special needs of children. The final product of the Working Group would appear to justify the claims of those supporting such a treaty. n13. Supra note 2. Drafting of the Convention was originally based on a model text submitted by Poland to the Commission on Human Rights in 1979. n14 In its final form the Convention had been expanded from the original Polish model of twenty substantive rights to a comprehensive treaty containing more than forty rights and covering the full spectrum of human rights protections. By thus incorporating so many of the child's enumerated basic rights, the drafters gave legal force not only to the principles of the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, but also the idea of a totality of rights as expounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. n14. U.N. ESCOR Supp. (No. 16), U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1349 (1979). While it is true that many of the rights protected by the Convention on the Rights of the Child are also protected by other human rights treaties, applicability of these rights to children was enhanced by their reiteration in the Convention. Rights which were previously protected only as general concepts were clearly spelled out as to their applicability to children. Among the issues addressed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child which have been given greater clarification are the juvenile justice standards, n15 the relationship between the individual child, the family and the state, n16 the child's right to privacy n17 and the extent to which other civil and political rights belong to children. n18 Implementation of the entire Convention is to be governed by the theory of the "best interests of the child." n15. Supra note 1 at articles 37 and 40. n16. See e.g., id.: At articles 5, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 20, and 21. n17. Id. ar article 16. n18. See e.g., id. at articles 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 25, 37 and 40. During the second reading, four areas emerged as what might be called "hot topics" or highly controversial issues. These were the rights of the unborn child, the right to foster care and adoption, freedom of religion and the minimum age for participation in armed combat. The rights of the unborn child were an issue from the moment drafting began on the article 1 definition of the word "child" right through to the end of the second reading. There were delegations and NGO's which argued that the rights of the unborn were protected to some degree by the law of every State, regardless of its national laws relating to abortion, and that to ignore these protections by omitting reference to them in the Convention was patently disingenuous. The carefully worded compromise language of article 1 which defines a child simply as "every human being . . . .," and leaves it to the States Parties to give their own meaning to the words "human being" according to their national legislation, was not specific enough to satisfy some delegations. A further compromise was finally hammered out during the second reading, when the Preamble to the Convention was expanded to include a paragraph quoting the 1959 Declaration which refers to "appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth." n19 At no time was the issue of abortion per se discussed by the Working Group, since the focus of the Convention is on the rights of the child, born or unborn, and not on the right of the mother to choose whether to have a child. It would be wrong to characterize debates over the rights of the unborn child as centering around the issue of abortion. While it is true that the fact that abortion is legal in many countries was a factor in arguing for the vague language of article 1, actual discussion of the rights of the unborn extended far beyond the narrow issue of abortion and included the right of the child to pre-natal maternal health care and to protection from fetal experimentation. n19. Id. at preambular paragraph 9. [*1451] Objections to freedom of religion and to adoption and foster care were launched by the Islamic delegations, which found the first reading versions of these articles to be in conflict with the Koran and with their national legislation. According to their view, it is not possible for a child to be able to choose a religion or to change his or her religious faith. This is a privilege available only to adults. n20 Similarly, the Islamic religion does not recognize the right to adoption. In part, this position is based on a concept of consanguinity and inheritance within the inter-related extended family, which cannot and should not be altered by or affected by the act of bringing an outsider into the family structure. Instead, the Islamic countries substitute the concept of Kafala as a method of caring for abandoned or orphaned children. Under Kafala a family may take a child to live with them on a permanent, legal basis, but that child is not entitled to use of the family's name or to inherit from the family. The practice of Kafala would seem to be somewhat akin to permanent foster care. The final text of the articles guaranteeing freedom of religion and the right to adoption and foster care are the result of very difficult and delicate negotiations. n21 n20. Id. at article 14. n21. Id. at articles 20 and 21. Also see: infra note 22. Finally, the one article which remained a bone of contention, even during final discussions before the Economic and Social Council and the Third Committee of the General Assembly, was the article dealing with children in armed conflict. Paragraph two of that article defines the minimum age at which a child may participate in armed combat. The overwhelming majority of Working Group members supported raising this minimum age for combat to eighteen years from the fifteen year old minimum age set forth in the 1977 Geneva Protocols. The United States, the lone dissenter, took the procedural position that this Working Group was not the proper forum in which to alter the existing standards of international humanitarian law. n22 Since the drafting of the Convention was done on the basis of consensus rather than by vote, the United States steadfast refusal to alter its position prevented consensus from being attained in support of the higher minimum age of eighteen years. n22 U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1989/48 (1989). While the final text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is generally considered to be a very good one, there are some rights which might have well been included, but for the rush to meet the deadline of "Target 1989." As mentioned earlier, interest in the Convention grew slowly increasing with each passing year. As a consequence, some recommendations for possible rights protections were simply recognized too late in the drafting process for them to be adequately proposed and discussed before the Working Group. For example, although the juvenile justice provisions were radically improved during the second reading, in order to bring them into line with the penal protections of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Working Group still failed to include protection against what is known in this country as "double jeopardy." n23 Similarly omitted, as a result of the last minute rush, were human rights protections for alien children, protection for children who are victims of forced internal migration and protection against medical experimentation. n23. See: C.P. Cohen, "Inadequacy of Criminal Justice Rights in the Convention Article 19," in C.P. Cohen, Ed., United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Independent Commentary (1988). Also see: Supra notes 5 and 22. It should be noted that, in addition to some of the NGO Group initiatives mentioned above, the Convention contains a number of human rights which have never before been protected in an international treaty. Of these, perhaps the most unusual is the protection of the child's "identity." This Argentinian-sponsored article has its roots in that country's tragic experience with children who "disappeared" during a repressive political regime. n24 n24. Supra, note 1 at article 8. For background see: S. Cerda, "Draft Convention on the Rights of the Child: New Rights," Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 1 (in press). III. Implementation The implementation mechanism of the Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for States Parties to submit regular reports to the ten member Committee on the rights of [*1452] the Child. The first of these reports is due two years following entry into force for the State Party and every five years thereafter. n25 Due to general dissatisfaction with the Torture Convention model, which provides for the monitoring committee to be funded solely by States Parties, the General Assembly voted to fund the Committee on the Rights of the Child from the general United Nations budget. n26 n25. Supra note 1 at article 44. n26. Compare: Supra note 22 and supra note 1 at article 43. Also see: R. Clark and F. Gaer, "The Committee on the Rights of the Child: Who Pays?" in C.P. Cohen, Ed., United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Independent Commentary (1988). While the implementation section of the Convention on the Rights of the Child follows a fairly straightforward standard reporting mechanism - monitoring committee model, it does have minor innovations. First of all, the primary aim of the reporting procedure has been couched in terms of assisting States Parties with their treaty compliance, rather than penalizing or pressuring States Parties that fail to comply. To this end provision has been made for the monitoring committee to refer States Parties' requests for technical assistance to United Nations "specialized agencies, UNICEF and other competent bodies." n27 Other innovations have been the inclusion of a specific supporting role for UNICEF in the monitoring process and for participation by non-governmental organizations, which are meant to be included within the meaning of the words "other competent bodies." n28 n27. Supra note 1 at article 45 (1)(a) and (b). n28. Id. To a certain extent "Target 1989" also played a role in limiting possible innovations in the implementation mechanism of the Convention. Because of time pressure, novel suggestions for the establishment of an International Ombudsman on the Rights of the Child were never given serious contemplation, neither were proposals for establishment of national monitoring committees. n29 Given the pressure to complete the Convention on schedule, delegates preferred to stick closely to language and formulas carrying the stamp of approval of previous human rights treaty drafters. While in some ways this is unfortunate, the final text and implementation of the Convention are sufficiently satisfactory to outweigh the desirability of any innovations which might also have required additional years of treaty drafting. The one major shortcoming of the Convention's implementation mechanism is its omission of a method for reviewing the individual complaints of children whose rights have been violated. It is possible that this will one day be rectified by an Optional Protocol or by the addition of an amendment to the Convention's present text. n30 n29. See: C.P. Cohen, "The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Non-Governmental Organizations and Implementation," Paper presented at UNICEF and the Draft Convention on the Rights of the Child (Conference), UNICEF Headquarters, New York, NY, November 25-27, 1985. n30. Supra note 1 at art. 50. Page of Page 9 of 9 UNITED NATIONS: CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD * Preamble The States Parties to the present Convention, Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Bearing in mind that the peoples of the United Nations have, in the Charter, reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person, and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Recognizing that the United Nations has, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenants on Human Rights, proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, Recalling that, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance, Convinced that the family, as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community, Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding, Considering that the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity, Page 25 of 29 Bearing in mind that the need to extend particular care to the child has been stated in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924 and in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1959 and recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in particular in articles 23 and 24), in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (in particular in article 10) and in the statutes and relevant instruments of specialized agencies and international organizations concerned with the welfare of children, ' Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, "the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth", Recalling the provisions of the Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally; the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules) ; and the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict, Recognizing that, in all countries in the world, there are children living in exceptionally difficult conditions, and that such children need special consideration, Taking due account of the importance of the traditions and cultural values of each people for the protection and harmonious development of the child, Recognizing the importance of international co-operation for improving the living conditions of children in every country, in particular in the developing countries, Have agreed as follows: PART I Article 1 For the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. Article 2 1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status. 2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members. Article 3 1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. 2. States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures. 3. States Parties shall ensure that the institutions, services and facilities responsible for the care or protection of children shall conform with the standards established by competent authorities, particularly in the areas of safety, health, in the number and suitability of their staff, as well as competent supervision. Article 4 States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international co-operation. Article 5 States Parties shall respect the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents or, where applicable, the members of the extended family or community as provided for by local custom, legal guardians or other persons legally responsible for the child, to provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the child of the rights recognized in the present Convention. Article 6 1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life. 2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child. Article 7 1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents. 2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless. Article 8 1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference. 2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity. Article 9 1. States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. Such determination may be necessary in a particular case such as one involving abuse or neglect of the child by the parents, or one where the parents are living separately and a decision must be made as to the child's place of residence. 2. In any proceedings pursuant to paragraph 1 of the present article, all interested parties shall be given an opportunity to participate in the proceedings and make their views known. 3. States Parties shall respect the right of the child who is separated from one or both parents to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is contrary to the child's best interests. 4. Where such separation results from any action initiated by a State Party, such as the detention, imprisonment, exile, deportation or death (including death arising from any cause while the person is in the custody of the State) of one or both parents or of the child, that State Party shall, upon request, provide the parents, the child or, if appropriate, another member of the family with the essential information concerning the whereabouts of the absent member(s) of the family unless the provision of the information would be detrimental to the well-being of the child. States Parties shall further ensure that the submission of such a request shall of itself entail no adverse consequences for the person(s) concerned. Article 10 1. In accordance with the …