The Right of the Child to Life and to Preserve His or Her Identity
The Right of the Child to Life and to Preserve His or Her Identity

Summary/Abstract: The subject matter of the essay is discussing the development of the child’s right to identity and referring it to the child’s right to life. The subject of both rights is the child, who according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989 means “every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.” Thus, in the description of the Convention the issue of the beginning of life of the person-child remains open. In accordance with this thought the author of the study analyses some regulations of the Polish legislation, which grant the child certain rights as early as in the pre-natal period. However, the right to life and the life of the person in the pre-natal period do not result in the right to identity, which is acquired at the moment of birth. On the other hand, legal description of personal identity indicates that it has its implications also in reference to pre-natal life of the person. The author attempts to answer the question concerning the relationship between the right to life and the right to identity — whether the child’s right to life always gives rise to the right to identity or whether only the birth of the child influences this right.

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