ABSTRACT

Schools present a unique context for the generation and resolution of conflicts of human rights. While the conflicts that arise are many and various, a default response appears to be the prioritisation of the rights of the majority. Hence the rights of the many then trump the rights of the few. However, the intersection of multiple stakeholders, and multiple interests and rights, requires decision-makers to identify the rights at stake for all and address conflicts in ways that are both principled and transparent. Drawing on an established body of human rights theory, and using the example of children whose behaviour is causing disruption as a case, this paper offers a rights-informed approach to consider responses to some of the tensions and conflicts that can arise between students in schools. While acknowledging that (a) the resolution of these disputes will turn on individual facts and contexts and rarely be clear-cut and (b) that human rights theory and law on this issue is also complex and contested, we suggest that a rights-informed response should, and would usefully, be applied in situations when the interests of one child appear to conflict with the interests of others in the context of schools.

摘要

学校为人权冲突的产生和解决提供了独特的环境。虽然出现的冲突多种多样，但默认的反应似乎是优先考虑多数人的权利。因此，多数人的权利胜过少数人的权利。然而，多个利益相关者以及多种利益和权利的交叉，要求决策者确定所有人的利益，并以原则性和透明的方式解决冲突。借鉴已确立的人权理论体系，并以行为造成破坏的儿童为例，本文提供了一种以权利为基础的方法来考虑对学校学生之间可能出现的一些紧张和冲突的反应.