The challenges regarding the protection and education on the rights of children : an overview of the situation of the child within the legal and practical compliance in Lebanon

Abstract

Children in Lebanon suffer desecrations of their rights because governments fail to enforce laws and regulations and to generate the economic and social conditions essential for a better living situation for children. Despite the armed conflict that consumed the country and its institutions for a long time until 1989, Lebanon ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child relatively quickly. The CRC is a unique human rights agreement in that it safeguards not only the child's civil and political rights but that it also brings protection to the child's economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian rights. The existing Lebanese laws comply with most of what is required under the Convention. However, the weaknesses of the state, the feebleness of some laws, and the political instability in Lebanon continue to limit the protection of children’s rights. This research examines, a brief historical overview of the children’s rights evolution in Lebanon, the international obligations of the states over the CRC, a review of the seminal importance of the rights of children under the CRC, the legal and practical application of the CRC in Lebanon, and a comparison between the application of the rights of children in Lebanon and in Denmark since Denmark is the tiniest corrupt nation in the world. However, a utopian country discharge from corruption is difficult to find, thus, the application of the children’s rights is also compared to other countries that have succeeded in several topics to protect children from harm. This research is relevant to gain an understanding of the extent to which children’s rights are being realized or violated in Lebanon. It is also used to assess how and why this harm is happening, and what steps should the government and the society take to address this issue. Corruption involving the rights of children is present in all countries, rich and poor, North and South, developed and developing. When corruption is believed to be the way of the public sector or one of its agencies, public administration jeopardizes and lose both its capacity to be effective and the trust of its citizens. The Lebanese state’s obligation is to take operative enforcement measures that is to explore, decide, and amend violations of children's rights when they arise. The obligation of exploring demand to discover where is the lack found in the CRC and the Lebanese law and try to modify them by the assistance of social and psychological expertise. The responsibility to decide requests a check and balance between the public sectors in the government. To close, accountability and transparency of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches are significant to amend the gaps which are found in the Lebanese Law.