Projets de recherche Name of Project : Living Rights : An interdisciplinary approach to international translations of children’s rights Persons in charge : Prof. Dr. Karl Hanson (IUKB), Research Director Dr. Frédéric Darbellay (IUKB), Research Co-director Michele Poretti (IUKB), Advanced Researcher Partners : Prof. Dr. Colette Daiute, City University of New York Dr. Yvan Droz, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva Dr. Olga Nieuwenhuys, University of Amsterdam Dr. Neil Stammers, University of Sussex Prof. Dr. Daniel Stöcklin, IUKB Prof. Dr. Arne Vandaele, Catholic University of Leuven Duration : February 2010 – January 2012 (2 years) State : Ongoing basic scientific research project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation – Specialised Committee Interdisciplinary Research Objectives, content and results : The project follows up on the research seminar Living Rights – Theorizing children’s rights in international development organized by the IUKB in Sion in January 2009. It aims to gain a better understanding of the processes of prioritisation in children’s rights advocacy at the international level. Within these processes, it wishes to study the extent to which there is also space for taking into account children’s own conceptualisations of their rights (‘living rights’) and hence to foreground the positive aspects of children’s struggles for social justice. The research project aims at exploring, in particular, which childhood-related themes have received most attention on the agenda of selected key players (i.e. UN system, child-centered and human rights NGOs), how themes emerge on the agenda and how they circulate between these key players, and what is the kind of relationship entertained to consult with the target population (e.g. children, families, local representatives of children’s interests). The research project has empirical and theoretical components. The empirical part will triangulate data from secondary sources published by the selected key players since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child with data from semi-structured interviews with key informants. The research will first provide a quantitative overview of the thematic priorities on the international children’s rights agenda. These findings will be complemented with two/three case-studies for deeper analysis. The theoretical part of the research will explore how children’s rights are translated through a two-way movement, i.e. top-down and bottom-up. Keywords : Children’s rights, living rights, translations, interdisciplinarity. Publications : A book with the papers presented at the 2009 research seminar (~250 pp.) is under preparation. It will be published by an international scientific editor. The first results of the research will be published in the second half of 2010. Follow up of the project : To be determined according to findings.