We are delighted to introduce readers to this special issue on Child Rights, Law and Emerging Challenges. We are privileged in having Professor Asha Bajpai of the Tata Institute for Social Sciences in Mumbai as guest editor and I would like to thank her greatly for her work on the issue. During the gestation of the issue, Professor Bajpai has been heavily involved in chairing a Committee set up by the Bombay High Court to report on horrific events in children’s welfare homes. This duality has informed the focus of this issue on the merging of academic and activist concerns.

The range of the articles in this volume attests to the fact that discourse on children’s rights has become a truly global one, mirroring the global acceptance on the Convention on the Rights of the Child by countries of the global North as well as the South. Yet, the many problems highlighted by the articles indicate that we should be concerned not just about the gap between the global norms and their application but also with asking deeper questions about the conceptual framework of the Convention itself as well as its translation to the realities on the ground.

It remains for me to thank the student editors, the reviewers, the editors and the editorial team (especially Dr. Abou Jeng and Dr. Chikosa Silungwe both of whom obtained their doctorates during the gestation of this issue! and the sterling technical production by Paul Trimmer). And of course, our final thanks go to Professor Bajpai.