Statutory age limits
Under national law, children
have certain obligations and entitlements that are age-specific. In addition,
statutory age limits are typically defined in law to regulate areas where
children are considered to have the capacity of discernment and maturity to
exercise legal capacity and make decisions concerning them without the consent
of their parents.
Different age limits and
minimum ages defined in national law could relate to the following:
- compulsory schooling;
- minimum age for being employed and regulations concerning
the work and employment of children at different ages;
- right to be heard in administrative and judicial
proceedings, for instance in relation to family law, alternative care
placements, asylum proceedings, criminal proceedings;
- voting right, including in democratic elections;
- right to give informed consent to medical treatment;
- age of sexual consent;
- minimum age for marriage;
- age of criminal responsibility;
- minimum age for recruitment by the military and participation in active
combat.
See also:
Centre: The child
Level 6: Promoting the
rights and the best interests of the child
References:
EU training and learning platform for guardians of
unaccompanied children
Chapter 2, Session 2.1. Creating an effective relation between guardian and the child
Literature:
FRA (European Agency for Fundamental Rights) (2018), Age assessment and fingerprinting of children in asylum procedures,
Minimum age requirements concerning children’s rights in the EU, Luxembourg, Publications
Office of the European Union (Publications Office).
FRA (European Agency for Fundamental Rights) (2018), Mapping minimum age requirements concerning the rights of the child in the EU, Luxembourg, Publications
Office of the European Union (Publications Office).
UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child (2005), General Comment No. 7,
Implementing child rights in early childhood, CRC/C/GC/7,
2005.
UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child (2016), General Comment No. 20 on the
implementation of the rights of the child during adolescents, CRC/C/GC/20,
2016.
