Children's Rights in Light of Islamic Sharia and Contemporary International Legislation: An Analytical Study and Critical Vision

Abstract

Despite the efforts made by Arab countries in the field of children's rights, including issuing laws and legislation, implementing many initiatives, and reform efforts, the gap remains deep and very wide between the nominal adoption of a set of laws dedicated to rights and their actual application and implementation. Despite the clear increase in the number of legislations that expand the margin of freedoms, this has not effectively contributed to the advancement of children's rights as hoped, with the prevalence of patterns of authoritarianism in many Arab families, and the exacerbation of Arab childhood problems such as labor, violence, and low levels of education and health in many parts of the Arab world, in addition to armed conflicts and wars that have negatively affected the living conditions of children and hindered the Arab child from obtaining his most basic rights. Therefore, this study sought, using the descriptive approach and analyzing studies and research, to analyze the concept of children’s rights, their foundations and components, and the most prominent of these rights and their forms from the perspective of Islamic law, and what is stated in international and global agreements and charters, and to analyze the reality of the Arab child and his problems, and to determine the most prominent ways to implement these rights realistically and practically, and the requirements for achieving this vision and its mechanisms.