Centrum voor de Rechten van het Kind / Children's Rights Centre
The Children's Rights Centre considers it to be its academic responsibility to contribute to the theoretical foundation of a human rights and a children's rights concept
The Children's Rights Centre was set up in 1978 and is led by Emeritus Prof. Dr. E. Verhellen. The Centre is a functional entity, linked to the Department of Social Welfare Studies, headed by Prof. Dr. M. De Bie, both at Ghent University. It focuses its activities on the scientific study of children's rights and aims to achieve a wide dissemination of its research findings.
Originally, the Centre focused its interests on the debate around youth protection. The Centre did not share the prevailing explanatory models in terms of deviant behavior of young people and their families. Right from the start, the Centre questioned the way in which society interacts with its children and its main concern has always been whether these interventions show sufficient respect for the young people concerned (and their families). In other words: whether the young people's perception of (their) reality was sufficiently taken into account.
Moreover, the centre's interests exceeded the mere debate on youth protection and, as such, the general position of children, including their legal position, gradually became the central theme of the work of Children's Rights Centre.
The evolution towards children's rights as central topic for scientific research was the next logical step in the development of the Centre. The Centre saw its main points of interest - a broad social perspective and specific attention for treating children and young people with dignity - reflected in the human rights concept. The international human rights framework offers the Centre a clear social and legal frame of reference to discuss the position of children in society.
Furthermore, The United Nations International Convention on the Rights of the Child is a tangible instrument to stimulate the respectful treatment of children and young people.
Under the supervision of Prof. Verhellen, the Centre has acted as a pioneer in the proliferation and promotion of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child on both the national and international level.
The Centre acquires its expertise in children's rights through scientific research and study. This expertise is permanently exercised within the context of service provision, training and education at the Department of Social Welfare Studies, the university in general and those interested in learning about children's rights.
Website Supporters
The following supporters helped to preserve this original website and all original content. Thanks for helping us keep the original stuff on the web alive. Website Presevervation by SEO Company Qi in partnership with Website Preservation Specialists.