Implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and social inclusion among refugee children in Canada and Sweden

Abstract

Refugee children often experience social exclusion upon arrival in their new host countries. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) obligates States to ensure the social inclusion of all children, including refuges. While all but two countries have ratified the CRC, few have fully implemented it. In this thesis, I tested the hypothesis that the social inclusion of refugee children will be greater in a country that has more fully implemented the CRC (Sweden) than in a country where implementation is weaker (Canada). The results of a policy analysis supported the hypothesis. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of methods to measure the implementation of the CRC, as well as to our understanding of the relationships among human rights, domestic policy and children’s well-being.