How UNICIEF Has Changed the Perception of Children - Coursework Example

ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE CLAIM THAT CHILDREN SHOULD HAVE RIGHTS. Introduction The world has been changing rapidly and this rate of change has been reflected in many spheres of life. The wave of globalisation has come with accepted standards of judging things which are the same all over the world. One of these standards that have come with globalisation has been the observance of individual rights. In this regard the United Nations which is a body of representative of all nations on earth has been promoting the observance of individual rights. The UN has come up with individual rights which are supposed to be observed all over the world. The way a county observes these rights has become a yardstick for evaluation it preference of human right. (United Nations Children Fund, 2005) But children have been given a particular attention in the world. This is due to the fact that for along time now, the society has been neglecting children and in some societies the rights of children have been glossily ignored. The UN has made strides in protecting the rights of children and therefore it has created a separate body UNICEF which is given the mission of looking at the welfare of children. (Children are unbeatable Alliance, 2008) It is in the sense that children are the inheritors of the world. A society that does not take care of its tomorrow is doomed to become extinct in the future. The main responsibility that any parent takes is to bring up a child who will inherit the world and leave it a better place than we have been able to build it. Therefore it is important to bring up children in a way that they feel a part of the world. Abuse of children For along time, children have been treated as less equal beings in the society. They have been exposed to all forms of abuse regardless of the future that any community is moulding. This has had an effect in the generation that inherit the society as it has come to adapt the same social life that it has been exposed to when still young. It has been shown that children who are exposed to abuses are likely to result to the same means when they grow up since they come to adapt it as the accepted way of life. (Your Rights, 2008) Children have not only being abused in the society but also in the family set up. Discrimination of children has been one of the forms of abuses that have been used against children. In this regard access to family resources has been dictated by the cultural beliefs and the values that are attached to some sexes. In many societies, males have been given preference over females due to the values that are attached to them. In India history has it that millions of females are still killed when young as they are considered a burden to the society. Wives all over the world have been divorced as they don’t bear their husband the preferred child. The fact that we have fails to recognize the rights of each and every child right from the family set up has been the main cause of lack of observance of children rights in the society. Children have been used in wars. In Uganda for example, the Lord’s Resistance Army has been accused of recruiting child solders and using them in war. This is due to the fact that children are likely to offer less resistant and they are easy to condition in mind. In the same way, terrorist groups have been shown to prefer recruiting young children and inculcating a hatred attitude towards some people in preparation for them to commit terrorist atrocities which their sponsors cannot stand the chance of committing. Not only in war but children have been engaged in child labour especially in low income regions where they supplement the meagre income of their families. These children lack the basic education that can assist them to earn descent living later in life. UNICIEF children’ rights Upon its creation, UNICIEF had a mission of advocating for the protection of the rights of children and help them to meet their basic needs. The body also set out it mandate as to help the children to grow and realize their full potential in life. In order to achieve this, the body had to come to ensure that all countries in the world followed the provisions and principles of the convention on the rights of the child. The convention has been taken as a legally binding document that holds together the international community. Though it has been termed as globalization of childhood it has been based on mandate of each and every society of coming up with a generation that respects the rights of every individual and treats all as equal regardless of their background, colour, wealth, and other aspects. The body realized that the only way to come up with such a generation will be to hold children’s right in order to show them the need to observe individual rights as we. In 1989, leaders from all over the world came up and decided that all children should have a convention specifically targeting the way they should be treated before they reach the age of 18 years. This was a part of ensuring that the world recognized the rights of children as individuals. Therefore they came up with a convention that sets out these rights in 54 articles and with other two optional protocols. These articles outline the basic right that children should enjoy regardless of the part of the world they are in. These includes the right of the child to survival, to develop to the fullest, to protecting them from harmful influences, abuse and other forms of exploitation, and to make sure that children participate full in the family, cultural and social life of the society. It also sets out four core principles as non-discrimination, devoting to the interest of the chid, the right to live, survival and full development, and respecting the views of all children. As such the convention has been able to set out standards that can be used as yardstick by nations to understand the degree in which they achieve child health care, education, legal, civil and social services. (UNICIEF, 2008) Observance of children right in the UK The UN convention on children right of 1989 has been used as the most ratified international human rights treat that exist in the world. It was ratified by the UK in 1991. At the same time the European Convention on Human Rights also includes some of the provision of the children rights convention and has been adapted in the English and Welsh Laws. In 2003, the government also made a further step and appointed the fist Minister for children, Young People and Families which was a part of UN recommendations. The government efforts did not end there and in 2002, it published the Green paper “Every Child Matters” which also made some provisions for creation of Children’s Commissioner for England which will mandated to develop all policies and programme that are geared towards ensuring that children receives the rights that they are entitled to. The above is an illustration of the commitment of the government to give children their right. The government of the UK has been in the forefront to ensure that it lives up the ratification that it has made on the rights of children. This is important as it helps the government to set precedent for the citizens and other bodies to observe the rights of children. (Defence for Children International – Australia, 2008; Parliament of New South Wales, 2005) However there have been arguments for and against giving children their rights. What are the advantages of giving children their rights and what are the disadvantages of giving children their rights. Let us look at some of the advantages and disadvantages in details. Reasons for children rights As we mentioned earlier, children are the inheritors of this world. It is our wish that we pass this world to the next generation that will take care of it better than we have den its. As such we live as examples for these children. We tend to set precedents for the future generation and they learn also from us. It has also to be understand that from psychological perspective, it has been shown that children will always learn so much from what they see their parent and the society doing. If the society is oppressive there is high probability that the oppressed young generation will also turn out to be oppressive. Therefore we need to set a good precedent for these children so that they can set the same for their children. We have to show them that there is need to treat children as people who need to access some of the basic rights like education, health and others so that they can also do the same when they grow up. This would be in line with creating a sustainable society that can take care of the world. (Anti-slavery International, 1997) Children are general dependant on us for survival and for other basic things. Therefore we have an obligation to these children to ensure that they have got all the needs that they require in order to grow and realise their potential. At this helpless stage children needs to be given all what they require so that they can grow to be better than we have been to this world. (Sinha, 2007) In many instances, the society has exploited the vulnerability of children and their innocence to use them in ways that we cannot. An example is children who have been used by terrorist to reach their personal goals or children who have been used by drug lords in their trade just because they cannot be suspected by the authority. Warlords have taken the vulnerably of children to recruit them as soldier and venture in front line of battles where the warlords themselves cannot. Therefore to ensure that the society doesn’t take advantage of this vulnerability, there has been an agreement that protects these children from exploitation. The children rights convention protects these children until they reach the age of 18 years when they can be considered as adults and can make independent decision with their minds. All the above instances can be taken as a way of taking advantage over children because they cannot raise a defence in return. Since they are voiceless and defenceless, we have to come up with a mechanism of protecting them from these individuals who don’t recognize them as people. (David, 2007; Franklin, 2006) In many societies in the world and especially in the developing world, children have no been given the right to contribute to what they want. We just impose some things on them without taking a thought of the implications that it may have on their life. Later in life these children come to regret and they start hating us. There are several people who have expressed certain hatred for someone when they grow up just because of something that was done to them with was in right of exploiting their naivety of their vulnerability. Therefore one of the most important aspects is to consult children when we want to do something to them in order to get their view. In most societies, children have been seen as a commodity that is owned by the parent and can be used in the way parents wants. In this regard all that is expected from children is total agreement with every decision that is made by parents. Girls have undergoing female genial mutilation just because theirs parents value it and think it is good for them. When they grow up and experience complications due to the act, some have even expressed hatred for their parents. Therefore children rights is important as it ensures that we consult children on whatever we want to do to them so that they can give their input. We should be expecting total submission on every decision that we make for them and we should also recognize that they are people like use who needs to have full knowledge and consent of anything that is to be done to them. (Freeman, 2001; Robert, 2002) Different societies have different perception of children and the way you value you child is not the same way that another person value their children. Therefore the way once society treats their children is not the same way another society treats their children. Therefore coming up with children rights has been one of the most important ways that is helping the world to come up with a standardised way of treating all children. In this regard globalisation seems to have come with an accepted way of parenting that ensure that all children in the world live under the same condition enjoying the same rights and access to government and family resources. This has been an important way in the today world that has become more competitive not only in the domestic arena but also in the international arena. (Hewell 1998) Reasons against children’s rights There have been many arguments that have been advanced against giving children their rights. This has been due to many short comings that have been due to the fact that there have been overemphasise on the rights of children without consideration of the environment that they are living in. But the precedent has not been argued against giving children their rights but on the emphasis that has been attached to the so called rights. There has been a trend in the world which appears like these rights are being imposed and forced on people and societies that have not been involved in the creation of these rights. (Hellen 2001) Many opponents have argued that children right have been turned as a yardstick that is being used to measure the way a nation is responsive to the rights of the individuals. In this regard, countries which have not been able to toe the demands of the UN on children’s rights have been alienated from the mainstream of the world and cannot access funds and grants like other countries. For example countries which have been able to grant free education to all children have been given an upper hand in accessing grants but this has been based on the fact that their economies can support this education. (Ursula 2001) It has also been argued that this concept has brought a lot of change in the society as children become aware of their rights and remains noncommittal to the demands by their parents. It has been show to lead to a disintegration of the moral fabric that dictated the relationship between children and their parents. As a result there has been increasing enmity and hatred between parent and children. Conclusion Children rights are an important convention that was put in place by the United Nation in order to ensure that there is a standardised way of treating all children in the world. In this regard it has been able to achieve various standards that have helped to revolution the perception of children by the society and for growth and development of the children. However in order to prevent the conflict that is common due to the pressure to follow the convention, there is need to change approach that is being used in order to make it appear as a precedent and not something that has been imposed to the society. This will help the society to adapt the convention in line with its growth and development. Reference Anti-slavery International, (1997). Child Domestic workers: Research and action. London: Antislavery Society Children are unbeatable Alliance, (2008). Facts, figures and arguments. Retrieved from http://www.childrenareunbeatable.org.uk/pages/info.html on 28th April 2008 David, A. (2007). The convention on the right of the child. Human Rights Quarterly Review, Vol. 12(2) Defence for Children International – Australia, (2008). State of Children’s rights in the UK. Retrieved from http://www.dci-au.org/html/rightsuk.html on 28th April 2008 Franklin, B. (2006). The Rights of children. Oxford: Blackwell Freeman, M. (2001). The moral status of children. The Hague, Netherlands: Nijhof publishers. Hellen, S. (2001). Children and Anthropology in the 21st century. Westport: Praeger Hewell, P. (1998). Implementation handbook for the Convention of the Rights of children. New York: UNICIEF Parliament of New South Wales, (2005). Children’s Rights in NSW. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/publications.nsf/key/Children'sRightsinNSW on 20th April 2008 Robert, K. (2002). Globalisation, Child Labour and Children’s Rights. Nebraska Report, April 2002 Sinha, S,. (2007). Urgent need to give the children their due. Mainstream Vol. XLV, No. 37 UNICIEF, (2008). Convention of the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/crc/ on 28th April 2008 United Nations Children Fund, (2005). The state of the World’s Children. Oxford: Oxford University press Ursula, K. (2001). The Best of both worlds for children’s Rights. Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 23(2) Your Rights, (2008). Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.yourrights.org.uk/your-rights/chapters/the-rights-of-children-and-young-people/introduction/introduction.shtml on 28th April 2008 Read More