Civil rights of children in consideration of international law conventions

Throughout the history of human rights, legal instruments have crucial spot for defining and guaranteeing civil rights of individuals internationally. Civil rights are fundamental rights that provides every individual the ground for living with human dignity without any discrimination. On the other hand, it is a well-known fact that vulnerable groups, especially children as a part of these groups, who are included this need much more detailed and special legal protection to secure the justice. In the light of the idea "the best interests of the child", civil rights of children has been guaranteed at regional and international level by international declarations and treaties. For all these reasons, in this study, it is aimed to contribute to the elimination of violations of civil rights of children by conducting a child rights review in the light of international conventions, which are the main sources of child law. The thesis consists of four parts. In the first chapter of this study, definitions and concepts related to the child, principles of child law and historical development of rights of the child are examined. In the second chapter, Convention on the Rights of the Child which is the most comprehensive regulation on rights of child in international law are discussed. In this context, it is attempted to analyse the legal framework of civil rights of children and monitoring mechanism of this convention. In the third chapter, international declarations of the rights of the child and international legal sources regarding civil rights of children are explained. The scope of the last section is constituted by civil rights of children in Turkish Law and custodial and supportive measures taken to secure the children.