Maria Grahn-Farley wins 2019 prize for course literature

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, or Children’s Rights Convention), was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989. Next year, the Convention will become Swedish law. Accordingly, in their weighing-up and assessment of matters in the course of decision-making processes in court and other cases relating to children, courts and legal practitioners will have to comply with the UNCRC. But ahead of the legislation entering into force in 2020, great uncertainty prevails as to how the Convention’s articles will be interpreted in individual cases. The UNCRC entirely lacks guidance on court practice, since it has no supranational court. The legislators have left it to the legal practitioners to determine the precise interpretation of every article in the Convention.

Barnkonventionen – en kommentar (‘The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary’), which addresses students taking courses relating to children in, for example, law and social work, and also employees in government agencies, schools, the police force and courts, has won the award for course literature for analysing, in an instructive and detailed way, every article in the Convention.

The jury’s whole citation:

“For a central work in a topical subject that tackles complicated legal issues in a readable, well-informed way.

“In 2020, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child will become Swedish law, and marked uncertainty prevails as to how the articles of the Convention will be interpreted in individual cases. After an instructive introduction to public international law, permeated by the author’s great knowledge of the subject, a solid, detailed analysis of every article in terms of formal legal dogma ensues. The book is indispensable for anyone whose task is to apply the Children’s Rights Convention in Swedish law.”

”The text has earned comments from students on the Uppsala Law Programme, and legal practitioners have contributed sound user viewpoints,” says Maria Grahn-Farley.

She continues: ”I would like to give my wholehearted thanks to Mareike Persson and Anna Åström from Studentlitteratur. Their support in the editing and all their encouragement meant a very great deal. I also received great support from the senior staff, dean and head of department here in Uppsala.”

Maria Grahn-Farley will receive her prize, SEK 150,000, at Berns Salonger in Stockholm on 4 September.

More about the book (in Swedish)
More about the course literature prize (in Swedish)