On November 20th, the world celebrated World's Children's Day to commemorate the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The theme for this year's commemoration was #ForEveryChild, Every Right! Unicef highlighted three key areas: For every child, peace, For every child, a livable planet and For every child, a voice. Those key areas are extremely fitting to what's happening globally, and it is imperative that as adults in our society, we ensure that the rights of our children are met.
For every child, peace.
Last week, I wrote about the genocides happening in Palestine, Congo, and Sudan and the crisis in Haiti. As we can see, there are millions of children worldwide who do not know life without conflict, and that is an extreme human rights violation. These children grow up to be adults who are afraid every single day of their lives because the notion of peace does not exist.
Peace: A state of tranquility or quiet: such as (a) freedom from civil disturbance, (b) a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom.
It is dishonest to think that only children in war-torn countries are not able to experience peace. Day in and day out, many of our children are living in highly stressed and abusive environments where they aren't able to grow and explore the world as children. Many of our children in poverty do not have the opportunity to find peace within themselves. This can lead to a series of mental disorders such as depression and anxiety among our youngest children.
Peace: freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions.
Peace: harmony in personal relations.
We must ensure that all children can be children, and live in peace.
For every child, a livable planet.
The majority of us have finally come to understand that climate change is present and active, and it is full of consequences. The conversation, especially with us in the Caribbean, has now boiled down to, "Is the big countries da polluting, wa da ga do with me." That argument does hold some truth as China and the United States contribute over 15 million tons of CO2 alone. However, China and the United States are not forcing your hand to throw the garbage on the road. They are not forcing you to dump waste into our waterways, and they are not forcing you to cut into the hills or destroy important ecosystems for the sake of development.
If we want to have a place for our children to live and be able to live outside, there needs to be a quick change in public policy and personal development to ensure that we are doing our best to mitigate the effects of a changing climate.
Imagine you complain the place is hot but want to pour concrete on top of the hill. Stop it, and let's ensure our environment is livable for our children.
For every child, a voice.
Children deserve to be listened to.
Our society has clung to this insane idea that children must listen and do. They must follow what they've been told from day one and somehow are expected to form their own opinions and understand how to navigate society as soon as they are an adult.
Do we see the problem here? Children should have the ability to dialogue with the different persons in their lives to fully understand why things are right or wrong and to express their feelings about a situation. This will not only allow them to learn life lessons in real time but might also get them out of harmful situations.
If we listened to every time a child was uncomfortable around person x, we could've gotten them out of a harmful situation. If we listened to every time a child expressed some sort of sadness, pain, or confusion, we could've gotten them the much-needed help to continue their growing journey.
On a governmental level, your nation's children are telling you about the problems they face day to day, and you nod, take photo ops, and say thank you. No one is listening, and it is frustrating.
“Children’s Rights comes with Responsibilities.”
Gather around as I tell this story.
It was 2014 or 2015, and the Sint Maarten Youth Parliament was celebrating World Children's Day. For the Celebration, we got wristbands and distributed them across our various schools. During this week, I and other members of my school went to different classes, handed out wristbands, and spoke to everyone about the importance of Children's Rights. In one particular class, the teacher decided it was best to respond to our dialogue with "Yeah, but remember with rights come responsibilities." I paused, watched him with a raised brow, and continued with what I was originally doing.
It's been almost ten years since that interaction, and it plays in my head every time I discuss the importance of children's rights. It highlights the seething ignorance within our community and continues to paint children as beings that we control, and not autonomous beings that need care, guidance, and help to grow. When that one teacher spoke about the "responsibilities" that were attached to the rights, it sounded like a list of chores and a series of commands (listen to your parents, wash the dishes, etc., etc.). To me, it sounded like if the child did not listen to the parents that one time, they now do not have the right to access education? health care? clean water?
This tells me that people do not understand the concept of Children's Rights, which means they do not understand the concept of human rights. Unicef nicely states that children and young people have the same general human rights as adults and also specific rights that recognize their special needs. Children are neither the property of their parents nor are they helpless objects of charity. They are human beings and are the subject of their own rights.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the rights that must be realized for children to develop to their full potential.
It does not mean that you're not going to give your child a PS5 because they did not clean their room for the month. We need to be honest and serious with ourselves.
This ties back to the point that was made earlier, children are human beings and they are the subject of their own rights.
I will type it again.
Children are human beings and they are the subject of their own rights.
The rights of children are not a debate and we need to stop treating it as such. Children don't deserve rights because they are your future, a prize, or some other weird obsession that we've normalized. No, children deserve rights because they are humans.
This post is dedicated to all the children (and adults), in Palestine, Sudan, Haiti, the Congo, and all of those who are living in constant distress, war, and poverty. The world has continuously failed and give you the protection that you deserve,
This post is written in honor of the late Dr. Henry Charles. Dr. Charles was a consultant and Youth Rights activist for over forty years and spent his life fighting for the rights of children and young people across the region. We continue to celebrate his work and make the world a better place for all children and young people. If you want to hear more from Dr. Charles, here is a link to my interview with him from February 2022.
May he continue to Rest In Peace.