Children all over the world deserve the right to be heard
UNICEF/Lebanon 2009/Pirozzi
To mark the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC), UNICEF have launched the State of the World’s Children 2010. Below, Hannah Coakley, a youth advisor to UNICEF UK trustees, gives her thoughts on the CRC.
The State of the World's Children is an annual report from UNICEF which every year focuses on a different issue affecting the lives of children and young people all over the world. This year the focus in on children’s rights, the successes of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the difficulties we still have to overcome to make children’s rights a reality for all the world’s children and young people.
You can download the executive summary and the full report here. It's not exactly light reading but if you’re doing a report for homework or a university essay on children's rights then it's an excellent research tool.
Hannah Coakley, youth advisor to UNICEF UK trustees and UNICEF Youth Champion.
UNICEF UK/2008/J.Wright
Here's Hannahs' thoughts on CRC@20:
As a young person I feel both respected and protected as a result of the UNCRC. I feel secure in the knowledge that it is the responsibilities of governments and individuals to ensure all children have access to their rights, regardless of their location in our global community. Most importantly children have a chance to grow up with the skills, tools and knowledge to become active and contributing members of their societies.
It is my belief that the most important right is individual to each child. For a child struggling with hunger in Eastern Africa, not knowing where the next meal is coming from, it is the provision of food and nutrition. A trafficked girl in eastern Asia wishes only for protection and prevention of the abuse she suffers. Article 28 ensuring education may be most important for a child in South America unable to go to school with little hope of achieving their full potential.
For me, as a young person in the UK, Article 12 is the most significant and empowering. It states that young people must be involved in decisions which affect them and be consulted by adults with the power to make these decisions. This right allows young people to take responsibility and be engaged within society, being inspired to help make the world in which they live better for themselves and their peers.
Yet it is the unique combination of these rights that makes the UNCRC so special. Nothing else has the ability to positively impact all aspects of all children’s lives and it is a gift to the children of the world. Let us watch its’ legacy and see all children grow up to become healthy and achieve their full potential.
Hannah Coakley, youth advisor to UNICEF UK trustees and UNICEF Youth Champion.