The Declaration of Children Rights in the International Community - Essay Example

International Human Rights: Rights of the Child The UN General Assembly, in the year 1959, adopted the Declaration on Child Rights. This event marked the first consensus on an international stage concerning children and their essential rights. The LON, or League of Nations, began the journey by adopting the Geneva Declaration in 1924, which affirmed the existence of children rights specifically for the first time, while also recognizing that adults have responsibilities towards children (Pardeck 16). After the UN had been formed following the Second World War, it took over the responsibilities held by the Geneva Convention in 1946. Advancement of rights under the Geneva Convention, however, which followed the UN’s adoption of the Human Rights Universal Declaration was revealing of serious flaws in the Geneva Declaration. Therefore, it had to be expanded. Member states began to call for a convention, as an international tool. The convention would bind states that had been party to its ratification in legal terms (Pardeck 18). However, this proposal did not pass the adoption stage. At this point, they decided on drafting another Children Right’s declaration that yet again chose to address the spirit of the earlier notion that adults owe the best they can give to children. The seventy-eight members unanimously adopted this declaration in Resolution 1386 by all UN General Assembly members (Pardeck 18). This right is a positive right and ranks high on the world agenda. Contents The Declaration on Children Rights contend that children are universally recognized as human beings and requires that they be allowed to spiritually, morally, socially, mentally, and physically develop with dignity and freedom. However, neither the Geneva declaration of 1924 nor the Declaration of Children Rights of 1959 is definitive on the time that childhood begins or ends. This is attributed to its avoidance of taking a stand on abortion (Pardeck 30). The Declaration of Children Rights, however, in its preamble, specifies the special protection and care that children require with appropriate protection legally prior to and after birth. The declaration has ten fundamental principles. It gives children the right to equality sans distinction on any basis of religion or race, as well as the right to the child’s special protection in social, mental, and physical development (Pardeck 32). The child is also guaranteed the right to a nationality and name, the right to adequate medical services, housing, and nutrition, as well as the right for mentally or physically handicapped children to receive special treatment and education. The declaration also gives children the right to be loved and understood by society and parents, the right to free education and recreational activities, and the right for them to be offered protection from exploitation, cruelty, and neglect. Finally, children have the right to grow up in a spirit of universal brotherhood, friendship, tolerance, and understanding. The Declaration on Children Rights is a positive right. The concept of rights is limiting on the actions that a government can take, and the only way to go around them being the addition of rights that allegedly are seen as superior to the earlier ones. To counter this, a concept called positive rights came to being. Positive rights are different from the earlier rights, like those in the Geneva Declaration because they demand services and goods, rather than simply involving freedoms for specific groups from interference from the rest (Pardeck 40). Children rights, in this sense, are positive since in order for the rights to be realized, other people have to provide children with these rights. Children rights need others to act instead of not to act as held by negative rights. For instance, the right to nutrition and housing for children is an example of a positive right. For the right to be fulfilled, the parents are enslaved. While the right may require funding, it is up to the parents to foot the bill for the provision of these amenities. Children rights as positive rights are incompatible to negative rights, also known as real rights. Children rights need another person, whether it is society or parents, to act on behalf of them. For instance, since handicapped children cannot provide special treatment and education for themselves, society and parents have to provide it for them. Negative rights, on the other hand, require that nobody can be made to perform any act that they find not comfortable (Pardeck 41). Positive rights like children rights are acceptable compared to negative rights, and the two cannot exist in the same context. The Declaration on Children Rights does not require children not to do anything that they do not want, and it has no negative rights provisions in its ten fundamental principles. Children rights are high ranking on the world agenda with an entire UN agency, UNICEF, created to safeguard the rights of children. This was informed by the fact that children are a vulnerable demographic and require special protection and attention. The fact that the Convention on Children Rights has the highest number of ratifications by the international community also indicates the importance that the world attaches to it. Various regional bodies like the EU have also invested a lot into the respect, protection, and promotion of children rights with explicit requirements in the EU Agenda on Children Rights that aims to step up efforts in promoting and protecting children rights and wellbeing in all relevant actions and policies (Pardeck 51). The recent campaign by major media networks such as CNN and BBC that shed light on the plight of Roma children, children who seek asylum, disabled children, child victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation, children at risk of poverty, and those involved in judicial proceedings shows the importance that the international community attaches to children rights. The international community, through multilateral and bilateral cooperation, has also continued to seek political dialogue with countries at war where child soldiers are used (Pardeck 52). For instance, in Northern Uganda and the Congo major celebrities, in conjunction with UNICEF, have acted as global ambassadors in the protection and promotion of children rights. Further intensification of cooperation between the following bodies; the EU, the US, UNICEF, and special representatives and rapporteurs has seen increased pressure on African countries under strife to do more to protect children rights with LRA leader Joseph Kony who uses child soldiers having a huge bounty on his head from the US government (Pardeck 61). This shows the importance of the issue to the international community. Since children are the future, it is only logical that a lot of emphasis on the global stage emphasizes their right for protection and care, as well as promotion of their wellbeing. Current global trends are indicative of a concerted push for all children irrespective of status, religion, or race to enjoy all rights that are contained in the Declaration of Children Rights, as well as others like the Convention on Children Rights passed by the EU (Pardeck 54). This convention is a prerequisite for all countries that do business with the EU. Work Cited Pardeck, John. Childrens Rights: Policy and Practice. London: Routledge, 2012. Print. Read More