The Rights of Children with Disabilities: The Need for a Sui Generis Regime under International Law

While general international human rights law does not distinguish between adults and children in the application of rights and entitlements (because the same rights apply equally to all persons mutatis mutandis), such distinction is nonetheless found in specialized instruments. In any event, there is a clear need to offer several specialized rights and protections to persons that are considered vulnerable. This specialized protection is reflected in discrete instruments that deal with vulnerable persons, such as the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDA W), as well as the CRC.
While many of the rights in the CRC are replicated in other more general instruments, some are not. The CRC recognizes four key guiding principles that permeate our understanding and construction of all pertinent rights related to children. Some of these have long been recognized as general principles, but others are new for many states. These principles are meant to apply contextually (based on the particular circumstances of each case), but also as peremptory principles of construction. As a result, they may be applied substantively (e.g., to interpret the child's right to leisure) as well as a matter of procedural law.' These principles are:
a) the best interests of the child (Article 3 CRC); b) respect for the views of the child (Article 12 CRC); c) the right to life, survival and development (Article 6 CRC) and; d) non-discrimination (Article 2 CRC).?