The child
Under the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, a child is any human being below the age of 18 years. (CRC, Article 1).
Adolescents and minors
Children are also sometimes
referred to as adolescents or minors. The term minor
is mostly used in civil or criminal codes of EU Member States and in some EU
Directives and refers to children below 18 years of age. The term has been
criticised since being a ‘minor’ could be understood to be connected with a
lower status and a reduced set of human rights compared to adults. The term
adolescent refers to the time when a child develops into an adult and does
therefore not comprise young children. In General Comment No. 20 on adolescents,
the Committee on the Rights of the Child focuses on children aged between 10
and 18 years old without defining the term ‘adolescent’.[1]
The EU Trainers Manual for guardians of unaccompanied
children uses the term ‘child’ consistently to refer to all children under 18
years of age, including young children and adolescents. This terminology
reflects the rights-based approach of the training programme, in accordance
with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
References:
EU
training and learning platform for guardians of unaccompanied children
Chapter 1, Session
1.1. The human rights of the child
Literature:
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
[1]
For further information, see the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights’ website on the age of majority .
