The Right to Play and its Relationship with (the Right to) Education: A Marriage Made in Heaven?

Abstract

Research into the child’s right to play has revealed a complicated relationship between the right to play and children’s education. Research findings expose challenges for how the right to play should be implemented and understood in the context of education. Such challenges arose during the drafting processes of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and are evident today in the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and in the everyday experiences of children and those advocating for their right to play. This paper draws upon archival research, doctrinal research and empirical research to give an in-depth insight into the relationship between the right to play and education. It provides recommendations for meeting obligations pertaining to the right to play and argues that changes in the practice of the Committee on the Rights of the Child are necessary in order to overcome the significant challenges facing the enjoyment of the right to play.

Keywords: Children's rights, right to play, education, right to education, content of rights, human rights, interdisciplinary, committee on the rights of the child, convention on the rights of the child, implementing human rights, implementing children's rights