Representing the Child Before the Court

Abstract

AbstractDespite the recent international ascendance of children as independent actors and rights bearers, reiterated by the UNCRC, in the eyes of the state children appear as not-yet-fully-citizens. As minors, they do not have the capacity to launch legal procedures on their own behalf or to formally approach a court of law to vindicate their rights, independently of their parents or legal guardians. In other words, in the twenty-first century, when child-driven effective pro se representation, or a form of representation of a child by a child before the court, still appears utopian, the indispensability of adult legal actors as conduits to children’s access to justice is an undeniable reality and contingent on a multiplicity of social, political and economic factors that influence what forms of children’s representation that is made possible. However, while the representation of children by the third parties has received criticism both in social anthropology, and in (critical) childhood studies, scholars have only rarely addressed forms of representation and active litigation on behalf of the child, conducted by legal professionals in different arenas—in the domestic courts, such as the immigration courts, and in international institutions, such as the EHRC and the UNCRC.This chapter builds on earlier published anthropological and socio-legal analysis of court cases related to migration and political activism as well as on a number of original cases from both national and international tribunals collected through interviews and fieldwork observations. It aims at complexifying the existent models of children’s representation, while tackling broader issues of access to justice of the disadvantaged groups. By laying the focus on interactions among children and their lawyers, the objective is to deepen the conceptual understanding of the ways children and their lawyers conceptualize processes of justice-making and make sense of shifting social and legal terrains around the conceptions of representation. In what way are professional legal representation any different from other forms of representation and are they alienating or empowering? What are the exact legal mechanisms, social processes and agents that enable such cases to become legally actionable and contribute to recognizing children’s role as legal subjects?