Youth Issues

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Children's Rights

Children need rights just as adults do, and without them, they are open to abuse and exploitation by employers, parents and their communities. On 20th November 1989, the United Nations approved the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is now an international agreement that countries sign up to obey. The Convention has 54 articles which outline different rights, and can be categorised under survival, protection, development and participation. The main points are summarised below:

Summary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child:

A child means every human being under the age of eighteen years, unless, under the applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
Every child has the inherent right to life.
Every child has the right to preservation of his or her identity.
Every child who is separated from his parents has the right to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is contrary to the child's best interests.
Every child has the right to leave any country, including their own.
Every child has the right to express his/her own views freely in all matters affecting the.
Every child has the right to freedom of expression.
Every child has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Every child has the right to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful assembly.
Every child has the right to privacy.
Every child has the right to protection of the law in case of interference or attacks on said privacy.
Every child has the right to access information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his/her social, spiritual and moral will-being and physical and mental health.
Children of working parents have the right to benefit from child-care services and facilities for which they are eligible.
Every child has the right to protection from all forms of abuse, physically or mentally.
Every child temporarily or permanently deprived of his/her own family environment has the right to special protection and assistance provided by the state.
Every child who is seeking refugee status has the right to receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance.
Every mentally or physically disabled child has the right to enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity and promote self-reliance.
Every child has the right to the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and the rehabilitation of health.
Every child who has been "placed" by the competent authorities for the purposes of care has the right to a periodic review of the treatment provided the child and all other circumstances relevant to his/her placement.
Every child has the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance.
Every child has the right to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
Every child has the right to education.
Every child has the right to enjoy his/her own culture, to profess and practice his/her own religion and to use his/her own language.
Every child has the to engage in play, recreational activities, and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
Every child has the right to be protected from economic exploitation.
Every child has the right to be protected from the illicit use of narcotic drugs, and from being used in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances.
Every child has the right to be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
Every child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Every child has the right to prompt access to legal and other assistance.
Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment will be imposed for offenses committed by persons below 18 years of age.
Every child has the right to protection during times of war.

Useful websites

www.direct.gov.uk

Information on children's rights as stated in the Convention and how those rights are upheld

www.unicef.org.uk

The major organisation that works to ensure children's rights across the world

Interested? Want to get involved? Check out your local charity...

KEEN Oxford

Oxford Students Supporting Street Kids (OSSSK)

Education

Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual (e.g. the consciousness of an infant is educated by its environment, through its interaction with that environment). In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to another through institutions.The right to education has been described as a basic human right.

For children, education is essential in providing them with the necessary skills required to obtain a job and thereby earn money to survive. In many countries, children are denied this education due to a lack of facilities - teachers, schools, equipment, money - and as such are deprived of the opportunity to progress in society. In the UK, political parties often criticise each other for failing to create an education system that ensures every child has equal opportunities. The importance of education, and its repurcussions for the future of both individuals and nations as a whole, has not gone unnoticed.

Facts

Around the world there are some 93 million primary-school aged children missing out on school - of whom a disproportionate number are girls
An educated girl is more likely to marry later and have fewer children. The children she does have are more likely to survive, they will be better nourished, and are more likely to be educated themselves
Educated girls are better placed to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and other diseases
In Somalia, only 17% of school-aged children attend school, while in Cambodia, around 14% drop out of school in their first year due to malnutrition, family arrangements, and a lack of pre-school provision
In the UK, married or cohabiting parents in 2008 were more likely to be educated to degree level or higher (28%) than lone parents (11%)

Education has important consequences for a child's future, and efforts continue across the world by both goverments and charities to ensure that equal access is offered to all children, regardless of age, gender, race or ethnicity.

Useful Websites

www.unicef.org/girlseducation

Discusses the issues of children's education and its importance in solving global problems such as poverty

www.right-to-education.org

A charity that aims to promote social mobilisation and legal accountability, focusing on the legal challenges facing the right to education

Interested? Want to get involved? Check out these local charities...

Cambridge to Africa

Jacari - Oxford

Kenya Education Partnerships Oxford

HIV/AIDS

HIV and AIDS are not exactly the same thing; HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, a disease that infects and gradually destroys an infected person's immune system. This reduces their protection against infections and cancers. HIV has to be passed through bodily fluids - either through sexual intercourse, mother to baby, or blood to blood. Initially, someone living with HIV may show no symptoms of HIV infection as their immune system manages to control it. It is possible to live a normal life, even if you are HIV infected, although in most cases anti-HIV drugs are needed to keep it under control. It is often difficult to identify HIV symptoms because they are very common symptoms that could be related to a number of other illnesses.

AIDS, on the other hand, stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is not a single disease or condition, but is a term that describes the point at which HIV can no longer be controlled, and a person becomes susceptible to illness as a result of the breakdown of their immune system. People do not actually die from 'AIDS'; they die from the cancers, pneumonia, or other conditions that may take hold when their immune system has been weakened by HIV.

UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) facts:

At the end of 2007 an estimated 2 million children worldwide under the age of 15 were living with HIV/AIDS.
Approximately 500,000 children under this age had died from AIDS in 2003 alone.
In seven sub-Saharan African countries, mortality due to HIV/AIDS in children under the age of five has increased from 20 to 40%
Every hour, around 31 children die as a result of HIV/AIDS

Yet the effects of HIV/AIDS do not only have to be felt by a child who is actually infected; many children are orphaned because their parents have died of HIV/AIDS, and others end up tied to their home as carers for sick relatives. Children end up being the principle wage earners in a family, they are denied education because community members are killed by the disease, and they may be isolated by that community for their association with HIV/AIDS and its victims.

Although this is a tragic story, huge developments have taken place as a result of charities and NGOs seeking to help children in their defence agains the disease. Simple actions, such as ensuring that all medical equipment is thoroughly sterilised, have drastically reduced the number of child victims in countries such as Romania. Many groups and organisations carry out HIV prevention programmes on a community level, educating people on how to avoid infection and supplying condoms. Usually these campaigns also attempt to address the stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS, which can prevent communities from discussing it openly. At the UN World Summit in 2005, the world's leaders pledged they would try to universal access to treatment by 2010. Nevertheless, the emphasis must be placed upon prevention rather than cure, and the role of the communities in coming to terms with HIV/AIDS is crucial.

Useful Websites

www.avert.org

A wealth of information on HIV/AIDS, its effects upon children and communities, and the fight for prevention

www.womenchildrenhiv.org

Current developments in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and a useful resource library

Poverty

Poverty is the shortage of those things deemed necessary to ensure quality of life - for example, food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water. It does not have to mean a shortage of money, though in the modern capitalist world, it is often money that determines an individual's ability to acquire these things. Poverty can also include a lack of access to opportunities such as education and employment, which aid the escape from poverty and allow one to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens.

Officially, 'extreme' poverty is defined by the World Bank as those living on less than $1.25 per day, while moderate poverty is defined as those living on less than $2 a day. This is a measurement of 'absolute' poverty, a statistical analysis. Poverty can also be seen in 'relative' terms - i.e. poverty within a given social context. For example, 'poverty' in the UK is of a different nature and quality to 'poverty' in Africa.

For children, poverty is a crucial issue, as it is linked to their educational requirements, their standards of life, and to social consequences such as crime, drug addiction and violence. It often sets in motion a deepening spiral of social exclusion that creates problems in mental and physical health, and social interaction.

2.9 million children in the UK are currently living in poverty, one of the highest rates in the industrialised world.
4 in 10 children in London alone live in poverty
In 1998, the UK government promised to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020. 600,000 children were lifted out of poverty between 1998 and 2006 - an incredible achievement, but there is still a long way to go. This situation is rendered more difficult by the current economic climate
Poverty can depend upon disasters; 1.25 million children across the world are affected by disasters that push them below the poverty line

Global poverty has enjoyed a high profile recently, as a result of the 'Make Poverty History' campaign and the efforts of campaigners at G8 summits and elsewhere. Charities have been heavily involved in working to eradicate child poverty for many years, but the fight is still to be won - as the figures above suggest.

Useful websites

www.dwp.gov.uk/childpoverty

Information on child poverty, including policy and proposals

www.endchildpoverty.org.uk

Campaign to eradicate child poverty by 2020, facts about child poverty, information about the campaign and participating organisations

www.unicef.org.uk

Campaigns against child poverty in the UK, and the implications of poverty for the lives of children both in the UK and across the world

Street Children

Street children is a term used to describe children who live on the streets of a city. Most of these children are between the ages of 5 and 17, and they are deprived of family care and protection. They sometimes live in cardboard boxes, abandoned buildings, parks, or on the street itself. It is hard to categorise street children, as some have irregular access to housing with parents or adults who may not properly care for them, while others live permanently on the streets in gangs with other children.

UNICEF divides street children into two categories:

Children who work on the streets during the day in an economic capacity, either by begging or vending, and who take their earnings back to the family home where they live, eat and sleep. These children may go to school, and have a sense of family belonging, but often they choose a permanent life on the streets because of the economic fragility of the family
Children of the street actually live permanently on the streets, and if there are family ties, they are maintained infrequently and tenuously

Approximate numbers of street children across the world:

India: 11 million
Brazil: 10 million
Egypt: 1.5 million
Russia: 1 million
Kenya: 300,000
Jamaica: 6,500
Uruguay: 3,000

Children live on the streets for various reasons: poverty, natural or man-made disasters, armed conflict, physical and sexual abuse, exploitation by adults, urbanization and over-crowding, and orphaning of children as a result of HIV/AIDS. In India, street children are victims of hunger, malnutrition, health problems, substance abuse, commercial sexual exploitation and harrassment by police authorities. In some countries, squads are sent out deliberately to murder street children (for example in Brazil), and they are recruited into drug gangs that also expose them to the dangers of death,

Case Study - Guatemala:

In the last year (2008-9), a child was abandoned in Guatemala City every four days - most were babies
408 children were killed here in the first 10 months of 2002 alone
Street children in Guatemala have a life expectancy of four years
According to UNICEF, some 75,000 Guatemalan children have been identified as malnourished, and some 67% of indigenous children suffer from chronic malnutrition

The problem of street children is a growing one, especially in the context of urbanisation and development that is shaping many countries across the world. Nevertheless, hundreds of charities are involved in worldwide projects to help children on the street, implementing measures to prevent the phenomenon. Institutional and street-based programmes are put into place to offer children food, education, medical services and drop-in centres in order to give them a chance for a better quality of life.

Useful Websites

www.toyboxcharity.org.uk

Facts about street children in Latin America, and possible responses to such problems

www.street-children.org.uk

A charity that looks to prevent the phenomenon by focusing on strengthening family ties