The International Obligation to Abolish Traditional Practices Harmful to Children's Health: What Does It Mean and Require of States?
*Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne, Australia (j.tobin{at}unimelb.edu.au).
Article 24(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child imposes an obligation on States to abolish traditional practices harmful to the health of children. This article seeks to examine the nature of this obligation, the types of practices to be abolished and the measures required of States to achieve this end. It argues that the prejudice of a particular practice to the health of a child cannot be reduced to a simple bio-medical assessment and the broader psycho-social impacts and significance of a practice must be taken into account. It also identifies evidence of a cultural and gender bias in the identification of practices deemed harmful to the health of a child in the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the body responsible for monitoring States’ compliance with their obligations under the Convention. Finally, the practice of female genital cutting is used to demonstrate that rather than adopt a simple legislative regime based on zero tolerance, a multifaceted approach which is generated through dialogue with the communities that tolerate harmful practices must be adopted if the effective elimination of harmful practices is to be achieved.