The focus of this paper is those who faced violence and exploitation during their childhood in developing countries. They are the most marginalized in international relations. First, in the international system, the states, particularly the powerful ones, are the major actors. Most of them are industrialized countries where human rights are relatively well respected. Therefore, with the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs, human rights violations in developing countries are less likely to be on the international agenda. On the other hand, since the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international framework of human rights has been strengthened. In this context, the UN Human Rights Council was established in 2006 to periodically review the human rights status in all countries.
Second, the vulnerable within the family, such as children and women, tend to be marginalized, as the household is usually perceived as private space, not to be intervened by the public. However, as the problems of child abuse and domestic violence become prominent even in industrialized countries, the international rights of the vulnerable groups have been established, including the 1989
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It is a shift from protection to liberation, treating children as rights-holders.
When the state, as duty-bearer, is not willing to implement the CRC domestically, there is now a possibility for the aggrieved party, the child or NGOs representing the best interest of the child, to claim the rights as an international actor.
First, the aggrieved party can help develop international norms at world conferences. Ms. Somaly Mam who faced sexual exploitation in her childhood established an NGO “AFESIP” in Cambodia, forming an alliance with an international NGO “ECPAT” that was instrumental in organizing a series of the World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC), bringing the 2000
Optional Protocol to the CRC on CSEC into effect.
Second, the aggrieved party is capable of mobilizing international support to influence the behavior of a specific country. For the Government of Cambodia to become more proactive in implementing the CRC in the country, “AFESIP” mobilized support from the European Parliament and the U. S. Department of State. It shows that the aggrieved party can play a significant role as an actor in search for a new international order, both strengthening human rights norms and influencing a specific country to implement them.
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