Submitted by crinadmin on
While the use of the term "complementarity" is increasingly common in children's rights reports, it does little to complement our work. In the context of human rights, "complementarity" is most often used to describe a very complex legal principle which basically means that you shouldn't have two separate legal proceedings happening about the same events at the same time. This use is certainly legitimate, but is very limited in scope and only appropriate for those specific audiences who are quite likely already familiar with the term. More recently, however, "complementarity" has been showing up in reports simply to indicate that two different areas might have common ground or generally be worth thinking about together. In reality, it merely serves to confuse readers and make your ideas sound more complicated than they are. Most often, you can solve this problem by just deleting the word "complementarity" from your vocabulary. It will only seem natural to your readers to look for the common threads between the different topics you address, and you may be surprised to notice that ditching "complementarity" doesn't at all change the meaning of your sentences. For example, it will give readers the same sense of what you'll be addressing whether you entitle your report "The Complementarity of Children's Rights and Education in National Laws" or simply "Children's Rights and Education in National Laws."