A Comparative Study of the Childhood Standard

One of the a priori and important issues in the field of Children rights is study of childhood standard: when childhood begins and when it comes to an end and a child may be considered as an adult one. Concerning beginning of childhood, three views have been introduced and discussed. This point has been paid attention to in Iranian Law, international legal documents, and laws of some other countries. The end of childhood has been discussed from various perspectives as well. There are three views concerning beginning of childhood: according to the first one, childhood begins at birth; in the second approach, it begins at semen coagulation in mother's womb. Finally, according to the third view, when embryo grows sufficiently to survive if born, childhood begins. According to the international documents and laws of many countries of the world, childhood ends when one is 18 years old; in some other countries, the maximum age for childhood is 19 or 21 years. According to the Iranian laws, religious maturity is the standard of the end of childhood; though,in some rules, this standard is different.