The children act 1989 is based upon the belief that children are generally best looked after within the family, with both parents playing a full part. The act states that children should be listened to and their opinions taken into account in accordance with their age and maturity, hence portraying that children should be included in decisions that concern them.
The children’s act 2004 provides the legal underpinning of the governments green paper, every child matters. The green paper Every child matters produced by the government is designed to ensure that every child regardless of their background has the support to be healthy, to be safe, to enjoy and achieve, to make a positive contribution and to achieve economic well being.
The Children’s rights commissioner in Wales, Peter Clarke, was elected to promote and protect the rights of children and young people by law. Jo Boyden, anthropologist and leading child rights critic, represents a view of childhood favoured by the industrial North. The rise of the convention coincides with the globalisation of culture, especially that of youth and the more romantic notions of childhood integral to Europe and North America. These norms include the cult of the individual, the differentness of childhood with the attendant overemphasis on passivity, vulnerability and helplessness, and increasing levels of state intervention in the lives of family and community. (Boyden, 1997)
Critical understanding of the application of children’s rights.
The UN Convention on the rights of a child has been ratified by 192 countries. It is built on varied legal systems and cultural traditions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere, without discrimination , have: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. (WWW.Unicef.org) Although these rights in theory are ideal, in reality they are often missinterpretated or overridden by state law, culture and state norms.
Article 2 of the Un Convention states that children have the right to be protected from discrimination regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin. Firstly, children do not have the choice in these aspects of their lives. All children, regardless of these inherited things, have the right to education, health care, freedom of speech and the right to life. This is evident as nationally, education is available for all children, health services are available to all children and children are free to express their views. However ‘available’ these services are the quality can largely be dependant on race, colour, religion, geography, ethnic and social origin. Social origin depends on where a child lives. Schools and health care services have catchment areas with the best schools and health care services being located in higher social class areas.
Children from various religious backgrounds are denied a certain quality of education. This is because many of the reputable schools will only accept practicing catholic children such St Bridget’s school in Wales. This therefore gives children of catholic families a better education with more prospects for the future.
Globally, however health care and education services are not as readily available. Inequalities persist and are a cause of concern in both developing or developed countries. Although a child today can expect to receive 9.3 years of schooling at primary and secondary level, there is considerable variation across the world. In high- performing countries, another 2.5 years participation in tertiary education can be added, whereas in Africa the average time spent
in tertiary education remains marginal. Thus a child of school entrance age in Finland, New Zealand or Norway can expect to receive a total of over 17 years of education; almost double that in Bangladesh or Myanmar, and four times as much as in Niger or Burkina Faso. (Global Education Digest, 2004)
Article 3 of the UN convention suggests that children have a right to express views on matters that concern them and their best interests are to be put first. The application of this right is neither met nationally or globally as children are very rarely listed to. (Department of health, 1996)
An example of this can be seen in childrens chiose of school subjects. Children are told what subjects they are to study and only when the child reaches 14 years old are they alloqwed to make limited choices as to what they study. Children who are in care often have little choice of where thy live and whom they live with.
Garratt et al (1997) states that adults will listen to other adults far more intensely than that to children. “There is now a growing body of evidence that children, both in respect of individual decisions that affect their lives and as a body in the broader public arena, have a considerable contribution to make to decision making” (Alderson, P. 1993) Children in the looked after system state in Thomas et al, 1999 that their social worker had not listened to them during the adoption process and that their views had not been taken into account. It can be considered that these professionals oppress children and give them little choice or meet their needs. There is no evidence that children in developing countries are asked their opinion as culture often overwrites children’s rights.
Article 6 of the UN Convention states that children have the right to life. The right to life nationally is upheld through health care services, immunizations and education. Immunisations are given free to all children. These immunizations save lives and prevent serious illnesses. In developing Countries such as Niger children are dying needlessly due to lack of knowledge and finance. In Sub-Saharan Africa the child mortality rate is 130 deaths for 1000 live births. (United Nations, 1996) Religious groups do not believe in blood transfusions. This is an example of where there is much controversy as the parents right to religion is upheld but the childs right to life is denied. The right to life is being denied by lack of education, religion and the fundamentals of culture.
Article 7 of he UN Convention on the rights of a child 1989 states that every child has a right to identity. Children in Developed countries are registered at birth. They are given an identity by name and their place of birth. This right is not being up held in Sub-Saharan African. Nearly 70 per cent of Children in Sub-Saharan Africa are not registered. (UNICEF,2005a) Only one out of every three children in West and Central Africa is registered at birth, a rate lower than that of any other region. Without registration these children do not exist. They have no entitlement to education or any prospects in later life.
The right to be protected from economic exploitation protected from work that is likely to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development is stated in the UN Convention. Children nationally and globally are being exploited by adults for economic purposes. Child prostitution and labour is ripe worldwide. According to National statistics research, conducted by Barnardos, it was found, that, in Newcastle 28 young people are being sexually exploited with another 136 young people at risk the research found the main cause of these young people being sexually exploited was homelessness. Although enforcement of international laws that protect children, such as the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Convention No.182 , the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, and the protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography are being urged to to be ratified. Child pornography, prostitution and trafficking still exist.
An estimated 2 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the commercial sex industry. At the end of 2000, as many as 325,000 children were at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States alone. An estimated 16,000 children in Mexico are exploited in prostitution, with tourist destinations being among those areas with the highest number. In Lithuania, 20 per cent to 50 per cent of those in prostitution are believed to be minors. Children as young as 11 can be found in brothels and children between 10 and 12 years of age have been used to make pornographic films. (UNICEF, 2005b)
Article 17 States that Children have the right to get useful information from the media, with the governments protection from any harmful material. Children have restricted access to media. They have access to what parents, teachers and other adults permit. In developing countries Unmet personal care needs, unsuitable housing and a lack of aids and equipment are common among refugees and asylum seekers. Other themes were: a lack of knowledge about their entitlements or how to get a community care assessment, communication difficulties and extreme isolation. ()
Under the European convention on human rights Article 2 of the first protocol provides for the right of education and is the only provision that relates directly and specifically to children. Article 2 also acknowledges the role of the parents in education. It obliges states to respect the religious and philosophical convictions in the education and teaching of their children. In contrast to the other provisions in the convention Article 2 is negatively formulated. “(n)o person shall be denied the right to education” (European Convention on human rights) This right is left open to interpretation as it gives no idea of the quality or quantity, Hence leaving this open for individual states to determine. (Dijk & Hoof, 1998) EXAMPLE
The Un Convention on the rights of the child sets itself as over and above other institutions, the question was raised as to how then to implement the CRC in family settings that have other priorities? Such conflicts existed in Sheria law on, for example, the lack of provision for female inheritance, and Islamic paternalism that undermines practical entitlement of children to rights (Safir Sayed); Jewish laws on marriage, adoption and conversion (Anat Horowitz) and Christian fundamentalist arguments that the CRC undermines the God given right of parents to raise children (Kimbrough-Melton. R.).
Difficulties also lie in the interpretation of Article 14 that states that the child can exercise the right to freedom of religion. This creates tension with the statement of the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. This stresses ‘the liberty of parents to ensure the religious and moral education of their children with their own convictions.’ The outworking of Article 14 of the Convention on the rights of the child has in practice pitted children against parents in terms of choice. The Convention on the rights of the child attempts to balance the ‘best interests of the child’ with their developing capacity to express their interests or wishes. (Veerman & Sand, 1999)
Conclusion
the CRC has put children at the heart of the international aid agenda. As Judith Ennew
states: ‘At the start of the twenty-first century it is no longer possible for policies
concerning children to be developed without at least nominally taking children into
account as subject of rights, however mistaken or hostile some notions of child rights
may be’ (de Berry, J and Stephenson, P, 1999).
Law states minimum intervention from state families responsibility Uk National health service free education in schools breakfast clubs working families tax credit But can we do more flexible health care and education catering for different needs learning styles housing associations homelessness food
De Berry, J. & Stephenson, P. 1999, Entering the new Millenium: Children’s Rights and Religion at
A Crossroads, Conference Report, Tearfund in-house paper
Leading proponents of the CRC claim that it is flexible and open to interpretation in
different cultures and contexts.
The discourse on children's rights largely depends on geography and culture, however true this is, it is not a valid reason for the rights of a child not being up held
“Children and young people generally are a powerless group of people in the adult world and have constantly been denied full rights to participation by those with power – adults” (Garratt, D et al, 1997, P.82)
References
Convention on the rights of a child, www.unicef.org/crc/crc.htm, Accessed 01/10/05
Archard., D., 1995, Children Rights & Childhood, Routledge, New York.
Convention on the rights of a child, www.unicef.org/crc/crc.htm, Accessed 01/10/05
Department of Health 2003 Getting the right start: National Service Framework for Children- Standard for Hospital Services. Crown Copyright, London
Department of health, 1996, Focus on teenagers- Research into practice, HMSO, London.
Norton., R. and Cohen., B., 2000, Out of exile – Developing youth work with young refugees, Youth Work Press, Leicester.
Dijk, V., & Hoof, V., 1998, Theory and Practice of the European Convention on Human Rights, 3rd Ed, The Hague, Kluwer, P. 644
Freeman. M., The sociology of childhood and children’s rights, in The International Children’s Rights 6: 433-444, 1998. Kluwer Law International. Netherlands.
Boyden J. (1997) Childhood and the Policy Makers: A Comparative Perspective on the Globalisation of Childhood in Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood. James.A & Prout. A. (Eds) Falmer Press
Global Education Digest, 2004, Comparing Education Statistics Across The World, UNESCO, Montreal.
Yates, M. 1998. Eglantyne Jebb and Save the Children. Leader-values.com/leader%20
values/Eglantyne%20Jebb.htm
2 Ennew, J. 1999. History of Children’s Rights: Whose Story, in Rethinking Childhood, Cultural
Survival Quarterly
3 UNICEF, 2000. A New Global Agenda for Children. UNICEF, New York..
Garratt, D. Roche, J and Tucker, S. (1997) Changing Experiences of Youth, London, Sage.) Writes s that Adults will listen to other adults but not children.
Alderson, P. 1993, Children's consent to surgery, Buckingham, Open University Press.
Thomas, C., Beckford, V., Lowe, N, and Murch, M, (1999), Adopted children speaking, London, BAAF.
United Nations, 1997, The World' Women - Trends and Statistics, United Nations publications, France.
Veerman. P., & Sand. C. (1999) Religion and Children’s Rights, International Journal of Children’s Rights Vol.7 pp. 385-393. Kluwer Law International. The Netherlands.
UNICEF, 2005a, Senegalese rap artist Didier Awadi helps promote birth registration, http://www.uni cef.org/protection/index_25216.html, Accessed12-11-05
UNICEF, 2005b, Commercial Sexual Exploitation, http://www.uni cef.org/protection/files/sexex2.pdf, Accessed 01-12-05
- Understand and discuss the underlining principles and values of children's rights, within national and international contexts.
- Explore and examine the issue of power within national and international decision making processes in relation to children's rights.
- Examine children's role in decisions that affect directly and indirectly the quality of their lives, physically, emotionally, socially and educationally.
- Evaluate national and international legislation, agreements and conventions pertaining to children's rights.
Demonstrate a good knowledge and understanding of the practical application of children's rights, both within national and international contexts.
Learning Criteria
Ability to synthesise theory and evidence effectively.
Well-structured submission including grammar, subheadings, paragraphs.
Effective presentation, proof-reading, grammar and referencing.
