Rhetoric, Divorce and International Human Rights: The Limits of Divorce Reform for the Protection of Children

25 Pages Posted: 7 Jul 2005

See all articles by Barbara Stark

Barbara Stark

Hofstra University - Maurice A. Deane School of Law

Abstract

This paper, written for a Symposium, identifies and challenges three premises contained in the Symposium's title, "Divorce Reform for the Protection of Children." First, it tacitly assumes that divorce reform can protect "children" in general, rather than a relatively small, and quite demographically distinct, population of children in particular. Second, it assumes that divorce itself poses a danger to these children. Third, it assumes that the law should step in to avert, or at least manage that danger. This paper interrogates each of these propositions. My project may strike some as painfully obvious. Of course there are bigger, broader threats to American children, but this conference is not about the top five threats to American children; it is about divorce. Surely we can make divorce less difficult and less painful for children and surely that is worth doing. There is an impressive assembly of brainpower in this Symposium devoted to precisely that. But my thesis here is that first, there are built-in costs and built-in limits to this particular approach. Second, both can be constructively addressed by re-situating the discussion of the protection of children in the broader rhetorical framework of human rights law.

Keywords: Children, human rights, divorce

Suggested Citation

Stark, Barbara, Rhetoric, Divorce and International Human Rights: The Limits of Divorce Reform for the Protection of Children. Louisiana Law Review, 2005, Hofstra Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 05-19, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=754184

Barbara Stark (Contact Author)

Hofstra University - Maurice A. Deane School of Law ( email )

121 Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11549
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
169
Abstract Views
2,259
Rank
319,049
PlumX Metrics