Nuno Ferreira

Working Children in Europe: A Socio-Legal Approach to the Regulation of Child Work

Since the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis, reports of child work across Europe have increased. This article looks into the European Union (EU) legal framework that applies to children who work, and offers a socio-legal analysis of child work regulation more generally. In so doing, it considers the role of a range of factors relevant to the regulation of child work, including children’s rights, cultural relativism, social constructions of childhood, empirical evidence of the benefits and harm of child work, and the different contexts in which children are found working. The article advances a justification for a restrictive approach in relation to child work in the European context, on the basis of legal, social, economic and cultural factors.

The Equality Act 2010 Five years on

Davies, C., Ferreira, N., Morris, D., & Morris, N.,The Equality Act 2010: Five years on. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 16 (2-3), 61-65. Copyright

Sexuality and Citizenship in EuropeAMMATUROFRANCESCA ROMANA, European Sexual Citizenship: Human Rights, Bodies and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 134, ISBN 978-3-319-41973-2, £37.00 (hbk).: Sociolegal and Human Rights Perspectives

In her first monograph, European Sexual Citizenship: Human Rights, Bodies and Identities, Ammaturo offers us an authoritative and fluid analysis of the intersections between citizenship, human rights and sexual minorities. The book has a strong Foucauldian flavour, exploring the ways in which power relationships are produced in this context. Ammaturo crafts a smooth flow of ideas, arguments and sources that address in a comprehensive fashion how these intersections need to be unpacked, dissected and brought to daylight for everyone’s benefit. And she does so in an accessible and ambitious way, without ever becoming simplistic or obscure – no mean feat. Ammaturo’s starting point is Europe as a continent defined as ‘an aspirational entity and symbolic space of belonging’ (p. 1, original italics). In this space, gender and sexual minorities (referred throughout the book as LGBTQI persons) arguably play a crucial role in the definition of ‘European identity’ and ‘European Citizenship’ and contribute to Europe having increasingly adopted a ‘symbolic position of catalyst for social change’ (p. 2) for these minorities. Both human rights and citizenship frameworks and discourses have contributed to these developments. Ammaturo is keen to explore the grey areas in these developments and unleash the potential for radical transformation of current constraints on the citizenship and rights of gender and sexual minorities. To do this, Ammaturo chooses the Council of Europe – and the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg Court) in particular – as the context in which a ‘European sexual and gendered citizenship’ can be tested and put to its limits. In doing this, Ammaturo offers particular attention to a specific group within the diverse gender and sexual minorities that exist: LGBTQI asylum seekers and refugees. In this review essay, I will explore some of the book’s key arguments and touch on some differences of opinion. Perhaps, these differences are mostly the result of different disciplinary backgrounds: while Ammaturo is fundamentally an international relations and social sciences scholar – thus perhaps more concerned with broader policy and institutional mechanisms – I am fundamentally a lawyer – thus more inclined by training to concentrate on particular policymaking areas and require strong evidence to substantiate final conclusions. This review essay will thus reflect the challenges faced by all of us academics in the field of sociolegal studies and interdisciplinary research more generally.

Working Children in England and Wales: Waking up from Inertia

Child work in England and Wales has been a well-researched topic from a historical perspective, but increasingly side-lined in socio-legal scholarship. This work aims to bring back this topic to the legal debate, by considering the relevant legal framework and related international and EU instruments, the experiences of working children in England and Wales, and the legal enforcement of the current standards by public authorities. Priorities for the future are also highlighted, with the ultimate intention of prompting greater monitoring and empirical research in this field.

Conclusion: towards a humanistic philosophy of the European Union

The present institutional reality in the EU is characterised by two contradictory dynamics; namely, the institutional one, centred on a quest for macroeconomic solutions, more sustainable public expenditures and even the design of a fiscal Union, and the centrifugal one, calling for a ‘palingenesis’, that is, for renegotiated, and more intergovernmental, arrangements. Although this reality gives the impression that there exist more problems than solutions, I shall use the disjunction between ‘the centripetal’ and ‘the centrifugal’ as a point of departure for outlining a humanistic philosophy for the European Union. The EU needs a more inclusive way of appraising where we are and this inclusive way of seeing things cannot be divorced from a humanist axiology. Five guidelines show how structures and policies can contribute to creating, and bettering, the conditions for a more fulfilled and dignified living.

The Harmonisation of Private Law in Europe and Children's Tort Liability: A Case of Fundamental and Children's Rights Mainstreaming

The debate around private law harmonisation in the EU has gradually moved from a narrow scope of market-related issues to the creation of a European civil code. The relationship between this process and children’s rights is, however, rarely acknowledged. The political, social and legal legitimacy of these harmonisation eff orts have come under strict scrutiny, but hardly ever from the point of view of children. This article explores the impact of the process of legal harmonisation on children’s rights, and uses the issue of children’s tort liability as a case-study. The legal solutions in this field are analysed and compared, and the academic proposals for harmonisation are assessed. This choice of subject and approach allows us to assess the advisability of further harmonisation, illustrate the importance of socio-economic factors in this process, and highlight the relevance of children’s rights and fundamental rights to this debate.