Essays by legal scholars from the United Kingdom, Eire, Israel and Palestine exploring the extent to which the recognition of the concept of children’s rights is affected by adherence to religious, cultural and ethnic traditions.

Contents: Editors’ introduction; You have to start somewhere, Michael King; Children’s rights: balancing traditional values and cultural plurality, Geraldine Van Bueren; Children’s rights, cultural diversity and private international law, William Duncan; The interpretation of the concept The best interest of the child in Israel, Yehiel Kaplan; A note on children’s rights in Islamic law, His Honour Judge David Pearl; Honour thy Father and thy Mother: children’s rights and children’s duties, Andrew Bainham; Rights and autonomy or the best interests of the child?, Ze’ev Falk; Multiculturalism, parental choice and traditional values: a comment on religious education in Israel, Stephen Goldstein; Child-parent-state: the absence of community in the Courts’ approach to education, Leora Bilsky; Tradition and the right to education: the case of the Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, Leslie Sebba and Varda Shiffer; A child’s right to privacy or open justice?, James Michael; Who is the Father? access to information on genetic identity, Katherine O’Donovan; Crimes of war, culture, and children’s rights: the case of female Palestinian detainees under Israeli military occupation, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian; Protection for whom and from what? protection proceedings and the voice of the child at risk, Ya’ir Ronen; The child’s right to make mistakes - criminal responsibility and the immature minor, Gillian Douglas; Traditional values, children’s rights and social justice: English youth justice in the 1990s, Wayne Morrison; Afterword: choosing rights for children, David Nelken.