Universal Children's Day was on Thursday 20th November, and nicely coincided with our latest meeting. For anyone that is not a UNICEF on Campus member, we meet every other Thursday to plan events, discuss issues children are facing around the world, and have a general chinwag! This time, we celebrated by learning about Universal Children's Day.
Universal Children's Day marks the day that the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child & the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1959 and 1989 respectively (yes, it is the 25th anniversary for the beady eyed amongst you!). Although this was obviously a great event, it reminds us that there is still so much to be done around the world for children everywhere.
I think it shocked me most to learn that only 3 UN member nations have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child - Somalia, South Sudan and the good ol' United States of America. There are many reasons for this; including the fact that under 18s can currently be jailed for life without parole, that does not fit in with the treaty. Also, apparently it undermines the authority of parents, especially on sexual and religious education, despite one part of the treaty stating that children should 'grown up in the care and under responsibility of their parents'. I'll let you decide what you think about that. This is an interesting article on the subject: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/10/economist-explains-2
At our meeting, we took photos holding up what issues currently affecting children we felt were most important - here are a selection.
Child Rights
Education
Water
Health
As ever - thank you for reading! Also, here is the link to the speech we watched by the inspiring 12 year old Adora Svitak: http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak
