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The Kids Will Have Their Say: 20th Anniversary of the Rights of the Child

Published on November 19, 2009

By Miriam Welderufael

Fact: 18 million children are living with the effects of displacement. – UNICEF, State of the World’s Children

This is more than a fact on a page; this is the reality that millions of children around the world have to face. This is also the type of tragedy that the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) was put in place to avoid.

Fact: “The annual number of global under-five deaths has dropped from 12.5 million in 1990 to less than 9 million in 2008. – UNICEF, State of the World’s Children

Children everywhere now have a brighter future to look forward to and this is largely because of the CRC, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year on November 20, 2009.

Daniel Seymour, Chief Gender and Rights Unit of UNICEF, said,

“Protecting children’s rights is not something that governments or UNICEF can do alone; everyone has to get involved.”

He continued to say, “that there are three areas that demand our participation: political, personal and professional.”

“Everything we do effects them [children],” said Seymour.

On the political level, we can get involved by holding our leaders accountable and making sure they evaluate the effect that every decision they make has on children. In California, for example, educators and students pleaded to restore high budget cuts to the educational system.

Image by anil_krantz via Flickr

On the personal level, we can examine our own lives and communities and see what we can do to help directly. If you know that a child is being abused or any of their rights are being violated make sure it comes to an end by calling the proper authorities or any of the hotlines set up to help youth in need.

“Children learn what they see. Put them in an environment where [children’s] rights are being disrespected and that lays ground for them to become adults who disrespect them,” said Seymour.

On the professional level we need to assess how what we do effects children and then figure out how to change it so that children can benefit from our work.

According to Seymour, for those that are in the profession of independent media, there is a specific role that we have the ability to play. Article 12 of the CRC states that children have the right to voice their opinions and concerns on matters affecting them.

Image by khym54 via Flickr

There are YouTube Channels in the Non Profit section, such as the UNICEF channel, that will keep you abreast about what is going on with the youth of today as well as how you can support children’s efforts to live a better life. Also, organizations like Adobe Youth Voices and our own Media That Matters Film Festival help to empower youth to communicate their ideas.

Because independent media makers are so influential - we have the ability to give a voice to someone who otherwise wouldn’t be heard - UNICEF, along with other partners, held the International Children’s Rights Documentary Film Festival to honor the 20th anniversary of the CRC.

The film topics at the festival ranged from the street children of Moscow to children who work in the mines of Bolivia. These are stories that we don’t get to hear everyday, but need to so that we can be reminded that there is more work to be done.

Although films are being made and the CRC was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, many people, including the worlds children who it most directly affects, are still unaware that the CRC exists or what it really is designed to do.

CyberDodo

Helping to solve this particular problem is CyberDodo, a multimedia platform that uses cartoons, books, and games to empower children to exercise their Human Rights. As stated in one of their animated videos,

“If the whole convention were applied, not one more child would die of hunger or from curable illness. Children would be protected from…mistreatment, dangerous work, prostitution [and] children would not suffer sexual abuse, human traffic or slavery…”

As basic as these rights may seem, many children are still being denied these privileges and will continue to be denied their human rights unless we continue to make efforts towards actualizing the freedoms expresed in the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

There are still millions of children living on the streets, dying of curable and preventable diseases and being affected by violence. Progress has been made over the last 20 years, but until the needs of all children are met, we cannot allow ourselves to be satisfied.

Related Resources

This article is available for noncommercial use under a Creative Commons license. It was originally published on MediaRights.org, a project of Arts Engine, Inc. This notice must accompany the article at all times.

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Comments

Congratulations. This is your official coming out party.

I am happy for you.

Posted on 2009 11 20 by Anthony M. Burrola

It’s something that with all the advancement we take we fail to be able to put our knowledge to help us humans. We rather close our eyes to people others misfortune. I have been guilty of such but the future is the our children and their children so hopefully they can change the world.

Posted on 2009 11 21 by ernie