Introduction to Children’s Constitutional Rights in the Nordic Countries

Abstract

This chapter discusses first the value of enshrining children’s rights in national Constitutions in addition to implementing the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. Second, it gives a brief introduction to the Nordic countries, their societies and legal systems, such as the Nordic welfare model, court systems and the sources of law. An introduction is also given to Nordic constitutional law: the age of the constitutions, traditions of constitutional interpretation and amendment and judicial review or rather the reluctance of Nordic courts to perform judicial review and a discussion of the shift towards increased review. The third part addresses children’s rights in the Nordic Constitutions, with an overview of the provisions of particular relevance for children. The final part presents the scope of the present study of children’s constitutional rights in the Nordic countries, its rationale, structure and methods, as well as the structure of this volume.