Children’s rights, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Institution: University of Oslo

Name of unit of assessment: Faculty of Law

Title of case: Children’s rights, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Period when the underpinning research was undertaken: 2000-2019

Details of staff conducting the underpinning research from the submitting unit Name(s):

Kirsten Sandberg

Role(s) (e.g. job title):

Professor

Period(s) employed by submitting institution: since 1985 and still

Period when the impact occurred: 2011-2019

1. Summary of the impact

1) Through her membership in the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 2011-2019 and being the Committee’s chairperson 2013-205, her academic work on children’s rights influenced the work of that Committee in its review of States’ implementation of children’s rights.

2) In its turn, the Committee’s work has an impact on the way States implement these rights, thus contributing to improving the situation of children in countries around the world.

2. Underpinning research

Nature of insights: Prof. Sandberg has done research on child law and children’s rights throughout her career, thus laying the foundation for being nominated and elected as member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and also providing the knowledge and understanding that she brought into the

Committee, particularly on children’s right to be heard and the child’s best interests.

Underpinning research: Sandberg was the project manager of “Barns rettigheter: Barnekonvensjonens betydning for forvaltnings- og rettspraksis [Children’s rights: The significance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in administrative and court practice], funded by the Research Council of Norway, 2006-2011. The focus was on children’s right to participate in decision-making and their right to freedom of religion.

She has also done research on asylum seeking children’s rights, children’s rights in an educational setting, in child protection, in health care, the right to freedom from physical punishment, protection from

intersectional discrimination, the vulnerability of children, and the rights of LGBTI children.

The overall insight from the research is the importance of viewing the child as a subject of rights, implying that the child’s voice needs to be heard and taken seriously, at the level of society as well as in individual cases. This understanding needs to be crosscutting, but also adapted to the field of examination and the situation of the children in question. The research discusses what particular measures are needed for children’s rights to be implemented in the various fields.

Her work in the Committee inspired her further research, the results of which she was able to take back to the Committee, e.g. on intersex children.

3. References to the research (indicative maximum of six references)

Selected references. Publications after 2018 are left out as she left the Committee in 2019.

Edited book:

a. Høstmælingen, N., Sandberg, K. and Kjørholt, E.S. (eds), Barnekonvensjonen. Barns rettigheter i Norge [The Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children’s Rights in Norway], 1st edition 2008, 4th edition 2020. ISBN 9788215025186. 464 p Articles in peer reviewed journals:

b. Sandberg, Kirsten (2015). The Rights of LGBTI Children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nordic Journal of Human Rights.

ISSN 1891-8131. 33(4), p 337- 352 . doi: 10.1080/18918131.2015.1128701 c. Sandberg, Kirsten (2015). The convention on the rights of the child and the

vulnerability of children. Nordic Journal of International Law. ISSN 0902-7351. 84(2), p 221- 247 . doi: 10.1163/15718107-08402004

d. Sandberg, Kirsten (2014). The role of national courts in promoting children's rights: The case of Norway. The International Journal of Children's Rights. ISSN 0927-5568. 22(1), p 1- 20 . doi:

10.1163/15718182-02201005 Book chapters:

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2018). Intersex Children and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in Jens M. Scherpe, Anatol Dutta and Tobias Helms (eds.), The Legal Status of Intersex Persons, Intersentia, pp. 515-535

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2016). Barnets beste i skolen [The best interests of the child in schools], I: Kristian Andenæs & Jorunn Møller (red.), Retten i skolen - mellom pedagogikk, juss og politikk. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215026671. Kapittel 2. s 40 - 53

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2016). Barnets beste som rettighet [The best interests of the child as a right], I: Ingunn Ikdahl & Vibeke Blaker Strand (red.), Rettigheter i velferdsstaten. Begreper, trender, teorier. Gyldendal Juridisk. ISBN 978-82-05-48452-8. Kapittel 3.

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2014). Barnekonvensjonens vern mot sammensatt diskriminering [The protection from intersectional discrimination under the Convention the Rights of the Child], I: Anne Hellum & Julia Köhler-Olsen (red.), Like rettigheter - ulike liv: Rettslig kompleksitet i kvinne-, barne- og

innvandrerperspektiv. Gyldendal Juridisk. ISBN 9788205459281. Kapittel 3. s 69 - 89

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2012). Rettsforholdet mellom barn og foreldre i

utdanningssammenheng - hvem har rett til informasjon, og hvem bestemmer hva, [The legal relationship between children and parents in the educational context], I:

Henning Jakhelln & Trond-Erik Welstad (red.), Utdanningsrettslige emner.

Cappelen Damm AS. ISBN 9788202358822. Kapittel 26. s 539 - 557

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2011). Norway: The Long and Winding Road Towards Prohibiting Physical Punishment, In Joan E. Durrant & Anne B. Smith (ed.), Global Pathways to Abolishing Physical Punishment. Realizing Children’s Rights. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-87920-0. Kapittel 15. s 197 - 209

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2010). Barns rett til medvirkning - et juridisk perspektiv

[Children’s right to participation – a legal perspective], I: Anne Trine Kjørholt (red.), Barn som samfunnsborgere - til barnets beste?. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 978-82-15-01638-2. Kapittel 3. s 47 - 70

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2009). Barns rettsstilling i likekjønnede parforhold [The legal status of children of same sex couples], I: Helga Aune; Ole Kristian Fauchald; Kåre Lilleholt & Dag Michalsen (red.), Arbeid og rett. Festskrift til Henning Jakhellns 70-årsdag. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISBN 978-82-02-30235-1. Bidrag. s 547 - 566

• Sandberg, Kirsten (2009). Children's right to participate in health care decisions, In Henriette Sinding Aasen; Rune Halvorsen & António Barbosa da Silva (ed.), Human rights, dignity and autonomy in health care and social services: Nordic

perspectives. Intersentia. ISBN 978-90-5095-877-6. chapter 3

4 Details of the impact Process:

As a member and chairperson of the UN Committee Sandberg was able to draw on her research to influence the way the Committee dealt with various questions, not only in its review of reports from States on their implementation of children’s rights, but also at the general level, such as several General Comments where she was member of the working group, including No. 14 on the Best Interests of the Child, No. 20 on adolescents and No.

22-23 on migration. For some years she coordinated the Committee’s working group on children’s participation in the Committee’s work, and she headed the working group for the 2016 Day of General Discussion on children’s rights and the environment.

Beneficiaries and nature of impact:

1) The Committee as described above, whose main work is to review States’ reports on their implementation of children’s rights through dialogues with delegations, based also on additional reports from other sources.

2) States, who are advised on how to improve their implementation of children’s rights.

3) UNICEF and NGOs in their work for children’s rights. The Committee’s

recommendations are used by UNICEF and NGOs to push governments in the right direction. There is a continuous exchange between the Committee or its individual members and national and international NGOs, in relation both to reviews of State reports and to general issues.

4) Children. In spite of setbacks, the implementation of their rights is slowly but gradually improved around the world. Of course, this is not the work of the Committee alone, but of various actors pulling in the same direction. These include organisations as mentioned above and other UN bodies and processes. However, the recommendations from the Committee form a central point in the

understanding and implementation of children’s rights.

Time span:

The impact primarily occurred 2011 – 2019 when she was a member of the Committee. Her research in this area continues to be used by NGOs and others.

5. Sources to corroborate the impact

Sandberg was awarded the Danish UNICEF prize 2018 for her work on children’s rights. She was made Honorary Doctor at Lund University 2016 for her combined academic and UN work on children’s rights.