The Interpretation of the American Convention on Human Rights through the prism of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: a reality, a promise, a possibility, or a problem?

This article considers the Inter American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR)’s and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)’s approach to interpreting and applying the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) provisions through the prism of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and ascertains the features of each convention that supports this approach. It concentrates on the IACtHR’s and IACHR’s development and implementation of the principle of the best interest of the child, and on two specific areas of the IACtHR’s and IACHR’s jurisprudence on children’s rights – children’s migration and trafficking of children – and concludes with some suggestions as to how this approach might be improved further in a manner that gives wider scope for the promotion of children’s rights and freedoms in the ACHR contracting states.