Adolescents' approach toward children's rights: Comparison among Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Children in Jerusalem

With the universal ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), societies have recognized children as human beings entitled to their own rights. This recognition calls for a thorough investigation of children's understanding of rights at large and their own personal rights in particular. It further calls for an examination of the role of context in forming the concept of children's rights. This study examined adolescents' (ages 12-14) approach to children's rights among three ethnic-religious groups: Arab-Christian, Arab-Muslim, and Jewish adolescents living in Jerusalem. The results indicated that Jewish adolescents had higher agreement and support for children's rights than Arab adolescents, except in the case of children's rights in governmental procedures, where Arab adolescents were in greater support. When comparing Muslim and Christian-Arab adolescents, the results show almost no significant differences. Similarly, adolescents' degree of religiosity was only partially correlated with their approach to children's rights. The findings suggest that nationality is an important factor in the formulation of adolescents' approach to children's rights.