Children's Rights in the Early Years - Essay Example

Childrens rights in the early years Childrens rights in the early years Involving children in the process of planning, evaluation and delivery of services that affects their lifespan is not only likely to improve the level of services but also aid in developing confidence, engaged as well as responsible citizens (Gauvain, 2001). Children’s rights are just human rights that are put in place to take care of the children. These rights may include particular attention towards the rights of special protection and the kind of care accorded to the minors that include the right to associate with both parents, basic needs for food as well as human identity, uniform state sponsored education and any other right that is beneficial to the child and is considered viable. During 1990’s, there was an increase in demand for children to be heard and their grievances addressed in the United Kingdom. This paper work will try elaborating the historical origin of children’s rights. Just like the origin of individual rights, when most policies were formulated to take care of individual rights that included the guard of privacy, general rights were the first to be structured and they never took care of individual children’s right at that moment. Children rights are perceived to be a relatively new concept. Discussions regarding human right have been in place since 17th century. Historians claim that it was not until 19th and 20th centuries when children rights were seen to be necessary. Initially, anything to do with children rights focused majorly on protection rights; for instance doing away with child labor, rather than any approach that children had their own rights just as other individuals. At the beginning of 20th century, a lot of people lost lives in the First World War and more were orphaned as a result of the war. This resulted to the formation of League of whose main mandate was to protect the standards of basic human rights (Storey & Housego, 2010). During the same period, Eglantyne Jebb who was a British teacher decided to step in front and took action. Jebb helped in the foundation of Save the children initiative and contributed towards the drafting of declaration on children’s right which was later adopted by the League of Nations. This was majorly designed to mount pressure on the respective post-war governments in order to protect children’s rights. In the year 1924, the League of Nations adopted decided to adopt the Geneva Declaration on Children rights act. Even though this act was adopted, the rise of fascism which led to Second World War left millions of children not well protected resulting to children killed, orphaned or gassed. The challenges faced during the world war were the major factors that led to setting up a way of internationally regulating human rights. During the year 1945 the United Nations settled on Universal Declaration of human rights by adopting it As much as there was dire need for general human rights, at some point others felt that a detailed justified article on human rights should be put in place separately to ensure the protection of the children’s right. In the year 1959, the United Nations assembly adopted another one and this time it was a second one titled declarations of the Rights of children. The United Kingdom on human rights commission group began working on the draft majorly known as Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC). Non-governmental organizations were very critical on the draft process (Conte, 2010). It was nearly until 30 years later that the work was completed and the draft adopted by the United Kingdom Human rights. Due to daily right experience, it was seen appropriate to come with right that would enable children be heard in the society. The children right’s timeline in the United Kingdom comprises particular events that are both grassroots and political in nature. The United Kingdom authority still maintains that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child normally abbreviated as UNCRC, is not legally implementable hence aspirations only (Todres, Wojcik & Revaz, 2006). After ratification for nearly 18 years, the four children commission in the united kingdom which includes those that belong to the three devolved administration have come together to ensure that Convention into domestic legislation is adopted into domestic legislation making children’s rights legally binding and recognized all over United Kingdom. Opponents of children rights normally argue that rights must be accompanied with responsibilities (Freeman, 2005). The movement for child’s right concludes that the state should be responsible for the welfare of its citizen including the children. Even though the rights for children came to force at an early stage, it has faced a lot of challenges with some government organs are not ready and willing to implement the acts as supposed to be applied. The incessant presentation of children as yobs and thugs not only raise the fear of public security but at the same time influences legislation and policy. Early United Kingdom notions of what is now acknowledged as children’s rights majorly focused on both children’s need for protection and their place in the society that is found within schools and families, but not at work place (Hibbert, 2005). Children had been mentioned in the United Kingdom 19th century declaration of human rights that established the current human rights. The government as well ratified a convention in in the year 1991. This simply means that the government must ensure that every child in the United Kingdom has the rights that are listed in the convention. The government could achieve this by simply taking any other relevant action that includes ensuring that all citizens are well aware of the rights that are included in the convention. Several questions might ring into ones’ mind whenever matters to do with children rights are raised. The convention on children’s act has 54 articles and each of these articles stipulates different rights that are entitled to a child and different roles that the government and other partners play to ensure that children have these rights without strains (Fortin, 2009). These rights may include but not limited to: Article 12 clearly states that young people have the right to say what whatever they feel or think should take place especially when adults are making decisions that affect them and have their opinions addressed. The article elaborates that it is the responsibility of state parties to assure a child who can form his or her own opinion to express those views in a free manner, the opinions of the child shall be given necessary attention regarding maturity and the age of the child. Noting this, the child shall therefore be given a moment to be heard in any administrative and judicial proceedings affecting the individual child, either through an appropriate body or a representative in a way that is unswerving with the rules of national law. Whenever adults are busy making decision that directly affects children, it is necessary that children have the right to say whatever they think should take place and at the same time their views addressed accordingly. It doesn’t imply that children can now have rule over parents or guardians. The main issue is that adults should involve children in decision making process. Article 12 does not limit parents to express their opinions and views on matters that directly affect their children. At first, some individuals thought that there was tension between article 3 and 12, actually this is not the case, what exist are the complementary roles surrounding the two articles. One article leads to the objective of gaining the best interest of the child while the other provides the methodology or the way of reaching the goal of listening to the child or the children. Actually there is no correct application of article 3 in case the component of article 12 are not given due respect. On the other hand, article 3 steers the functionality of the 12th article pertaining the role of children in decision making concerning their daily challenges. The convention acknowledges that the extent of an individual child’s participation in decision making process must be relevant depending on the child’s level of maturity. It is considered that the ability of the child to make an appropriate decision develop with experience. Several number of adults will give much weight to teenager’s opinion as compared to younger children, whether in administrative, family or legal decisions; but critiques argue that a child’s capacity to make a mature decision can grow at a very young age provided that this individual child is given ample time to experience and undergo the process. Giving attention to a child leads to a better understanding related to realities in a child’s life and understand the causes of rights that have successfully been abused. It simply means that engaging with citizens who are able to make decisions that positively affect their lives. This tasks the practitioners to take in account the views of children in the decision making process; this is complemented by other rights of participation that assures the child of the information they need for instance, freedom to associate and express views. Several research works have been done to view this article 12. Somewhere in 2009, a committee gave a general comment on the need to give children the right to be heard. The general content provides detailed expectations from the government to take actions to respect fulfill and protect the right of children to be heard. Participation is like a mirror guiding the UNCRC, meaning that it is not a right on itself but also a principle that is supposed to inform any other right in the UNCRC. Participation rights are further elaborated in other human rights treaties basically for specific groups such as the disabled kids and young women and other treaties that are also incorporated into United Kingdom’s law through the Human Rights Act of 1998. In the year 2010, participation works also published an article on research finding entitled “Listen and Change”: this article explains that as much as offering minimum legal guarantees to young people on how they can freely express their views, UNCRC provides a set of procedures which are supposed to guide all work with children. Since 1990s, there has been a general improvement in the recognition, level and quality of children’s participation in decision making across the UK. Nonetheless, there remains significant variation in legislation and practice. While we are encouraged by pockets of good practice, a considerable amount of progress is yet to be made to fully achieve children’s participation rights in all aspects of their lives, regardless of the setting or the subject matter. There are a number of issues that have been arising to do with matters that affect children’s rights. There are a number of barriers that limit children’s participation in decision making. Some of those barriers are strategic (such as complaints policies that are unsuitable for use by children or that specifically exclude children from making a complaint), while others are attitudinal. These barriers are unlikely to be removed until children are perceived as rights-holders and there are increased training opportunities for professionals on children’s rights generally and on Articles 12 and 13 in particular. Particular groups of children and young people may experience additional barriers to enjoying their participation rights. For example, there continues to be resistance to seeking the views of younger children at a strategic level and a failure to implement law and policy when it comes to involving disabled children or looked after children in decisions about their care. Children with non-verbal means of communication and those with other communication difficulties experience particular problems with regard to participation and often do not have the necessary communication aids that would facilitate their right to a voice. There is variation in the extent to which children’s voices are heard and taken into account in both public and private law proceedings. There is also inconsistency in the granting of separate legal representation to children where this is needed. In the year 1991, the United Kingdom government agreed to ensure that children have rights that have been listed in the convention on the rights of a child. The government should enact laws and other activities that include educating the society on the rights of children. The history of rights regarding children in England continues to be a history of adult actions (Lawrence, 2004). Critiques argue that this will continue to be the case as long as adults lapse in considering their essential duties under articles 12, 13, as well as 15 of the passed CRC and give children the leeway to take over. Bibliography CONTE, A. (2010). Human rights in the prevention and punishment of terrorism Commonwealth approaches : United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Berlin, Springer. GAUVAIN, M. (2001). The social context of cognitive development. New York, NY. [u.a.], Guilford Press. FORTIN, J. (2009). Childrens rights and the developing law. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press. FREEMAN, M. (2005). Childrens health and childrens rights. Leiden, Nijhoff. HIBBERT, A. (2005). Childrens rights. North Mankato, Minn, Sea-to-Sea Publications. LAMING, H. (2009). The protection of children in England :a progress report. London, Stationery Office. LAWRENCE, A. (2004). Principles of child protection management and practice. Maidenhead, Open University Press. STOREY, N. R., & HOUSEGO, M. (2010). Women in the First World War. Oxford, Shire Publications. TODRES, J., WOJCIK, M. E., & REVAZ, C. R. (2006). The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child: an analysis of treaty provisions and implications of U.S. ratification. Ardsley, N.Y., Transnational Publishers. WILLIAMS, J. (2008). Child Law for Social Work Policy and Practice. London, Sage Publications. Read More