children’s rights — Online Journal — Columbia Undergraduate Law Review

Federal and International Legal Implications of the History of Indigenous Boarding Schools in the United States and Their Current Impacts

Today, there are over 40,000 graves of Native American children around the United States on properties that operated as boarding schools for Indigenous youth. [1] These gravesites reveal a fraction of the impact of the mistreatment at these federally sanctioned schools, and of the number of Indigenous youth harmed emotionally and physically that led to diminished populations and resources, little culturally relevant schooling, and increased mental and physical illnesses in Indigenous communities.

Tess AronsonJanuary 16, 2023international human rights law, indigenous rights, education, children’s rights

Child Labor and the Human Rights Violations Embedded in Producing Technology

Every new Apple release comes with a media blitz about the new iPhone’s improved camera quality, the speed of the M1 processor chip in the latest MacBooks, or the sound quality of the next generation AirPod Pros. An Apple product’s design interface is carefully curated—all with the goal of arousing a feeling of sleekness and fashion in the consumer. However, despite Apple’s futuristic facade, its labor model is backwards and deeply problematic. Indeed, Apple’s cobalt batteries are built on the backs of child labor in mines, causing severe physical harm to children and violating international standards of human rights.

Amogh DimriJanuary 18, 2022technology, children, children’s rights, human rights, child labor

How International Children’s Rights Law Can Force Governments to Prioritize Tackling Climate Change

The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) guarantees youth the human right to be protected from threats. According to the convention, which was ratified by 196 UN member nations, all children are entitled to the “inherent right to life” and education, with the goal of these rights being the “development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.” Of all the threats children face, climate change is, without a doubt, proving itself to be the most formidable and existential. Today, the planet increasingly hurdles over temperature records, while extreme weather phenomena worsen in intensity and frequency each year. It has become increasingly evident that, due to climate change, children will lack an environment conducive to their development in the coming decades.