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In media and public debate, in (church) political discourse and in the context of the debate on abuse within the Church, the issue of children’s rights is ‘very much in the spotlight’. This applies not only within the (Roman Catholic) Church, but wherever opportunities for abuse and corresponding attitudes on the part of the perpetrators, combined with a systemic tendency to ‘look the other way’ in social settings (such as sports clubs and leisure activities), have facilitated such crimes against young people. The Roman Catholic Church has been particularly hard hit by these allegations because the Church, which is (and is supposed to be) a Church of charity, now finds itself ‘in the pillory’ as the perpetrator. This inevitably raises the question of the validity and significance of children’s rights within the Church itself.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 has been signed by almost every country in the world. It is therefore a globally binding treaty under international law for the protection of children and young people. This Convention has also been signed by the Holy See (not merely by the Vatican). Consequently, children’s rights also apply within the Roman Catholic Church and under canon law, the Codex Iuris Canonici, which was reformed by Pope Francis on 8 December 2021 in order to better protect victims in future. Children’s rights are therefore also on the agenda of the Roman Catholic Church and are inseparable from its self-understanding and its mission to protect the ‘salvation of souls’.
