The representation of the child rights violation and a reading on Capharnaüm

Starting from birth, all children of the world should have in this order of priority, the right to life, shelter, health, and education. All children should benefit as well from social and cultural activities, and should not be harmed mentally or physically, or abused in any way; these are indeed "Children's Rights". Every day in the world, these rights that children deserve are restricted in various ways or not given at all. From the past to the present, the child cannot pass beyond the position of being an object that needs to be protected and is subject to the judgement and control of the family. It has taken a long time for International Conventions to recognize that children are individuals like adults and therefore they are due respective human rights. The most important of these conventions is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was put into effect in 1989. This contract, designed for the best interests of the child, is the most acknowledged and the most accepted and signed human rights contract in the world. However, different state policies and interests, economic difficulties and instability, and traditions that have existed for centuries, create barriers to implementation of international agreements as intended which puts these agreements in an aporetic position. In such cases, where the application of law and international declarations are in a standstill, art has the power to reveal violations of rights, mobilize societies and to solve problems. With the introduction of photography and cinema into our lives at the beginning of the 20th century, representations of the violations of children's rights find their place both in a photographic frame and on the silver screen. In this visual world, where photography and cinema are very influential, both branches of art are used by artists, especially international non-governmental organizations, to reflect the violations of rights and raise awareness, as well as to show the positive efforts made. An excellent example of using art to speak the truth is Lebanese director Nadine Labaki's film Capharnaüm, awarded the special jury award at the International Cannes Film Festival in 2018 and is the main subject of this thesis. The thesis, begins with an analysis of how the concepts of child and childhood were handled in different historical periods, followed by an in depth analysis of the studies carried out by international conventions and subsequent efforts to improve human rights violations. Next the importance of photography and cinema are examined in the context of raising awareness in environments where law and contracts are insufficient. Finally an analysis of how the film Capharnaüm creates awareness of the disfunction of the enforcement of International Children's rights treaties through three different perspectives; cinematographic, sociological and discourse analysis.