Making Children Visible
Femicide and Child Protection under the UNCRC
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6427844 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Laura Isabella Brunke (0009-0003-8260-8860, University of Duisburg-Essen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 55-76 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-28 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Human Rights Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1874-6306 • E-ISSN: 1524-8879 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12142-025-00739-w |
| OpenAlex | W4410833443 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Both academic and policy discourses on femicide are rapidly evolving, but still notably oriented towards direct victims and perpetrators. The impact on children, though multiple and profound, is neglected. Femicides predominantly occur within the home where children become witnesses to violence. The risk of being collateral victims is high. The primary suspect, typically the child’s father or stepfather, is either arrested or dies by suicide. Hence, many surviving children are bereaved of not only one, but both parents, and left as double orphans. Their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child become vulnerable to violation. Reflecting on the specific situation of double orphans, this article aims to make children visible as secondary victims of femicide and to demonstrate how state responses can be aligned with a rights-based approach under international law. It explores key areas where rights are most at risk and critically evaluates the ethical-legal dilemmas involved against the best interests of the child standard. The article finds that, where rights are in conflict, protecting children from further harm must take precedence over formal family preservation. While some child-centred reforms have begun to emerge, the case of Argentina shows that responses remain uneven: its custody law is normatively aligned with the child’s best interests, yet the economic reparation scheme does not meet the scope and urgency of the issue
Criminology · Development aid · Domestic violence · Environmental health · Femicide · Feminism · Poison control · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Social change · Social philosophy · Sociology · Child Abuse and Trauma · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Law · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma
Familicide, Gender and the Media
Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition
Estimating the number of children in formal alternative care
Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, and the Childhood Roots of Health Disparities
Murder, gender and the law
Processing the Removal and Managing the Moves or Removals of Foster Children
Familicide
A Qualitative Study of Intimate Partner Femicide and Orphans in Cyprus
The Best Interests of the Child
Suicide and Additional Homicides Associated with Intimate Partner Homicide
The Continuum of Human Insecurity for Women
He Killed My Mommy!” Murder or Attempted Murder of a Child's Mother
Familicide
Children and Domestic Homicide
Newspaper Reporting and the Public Construction of Homicide
Legal Codification without Justice
How Children and Their Caregivers Adjust After Intimate Partner Femicide
| Highly cited | No |
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