Ways and Obligations of the State to Promote Child Rights

It seems like our today is swamped with so many contrasts and extremes that it gets hard to even rationalize what is the type of world we live in. From extremely rich celebrities, overspending on plastic surgeries, luxurious houses, cars, yachts, holidays… to the extremely poor adults and children living in such terrible conditions that even the most cold-hearted would cry.

The interesting thing though is that now more than ever people have started paying attention to those less fortunate than them, they started doing research on ways to help those who weren’t as blessed with good life as they were. Celebrities, regular people, wealthy people… all of them try to stay focused and joined in their attempt to make the lives of the poor at least a little bit easier.

This time around we are raising awareness concerning child rights and ending child poverty.

Staying concerned with the Rights of the Child is the responsibility of all members of society. Only when respected by everyone standards can be realized.

When all members of the community - parents and members of the family; professionals working in education, employees of all public and private institutions, the courts, services for children and at all levels of government administration realize and then react in correspondence with the expected standards and when each individual carries out his or her unique role things may change for the better.

Governments, families, children and members of a society all have a certain role.

Governments

Governments are obliged to recognize the full spectrum of human rights. Human rights should consider children in policy and legislative decisions.

A rather promising circumstance is that many States are beginning to listen to children's views seriously to understand their views on important issues. However, this is still a process that’s in its beginning stages and a lot more needs to be done.

Children

There is an old saying that states “Listen to the elderly and respect them”. And generally we wouldn’t have a problem with this statement if time hadn’t shown that not only can children be wiser than the elderly but they can also be more realistic and understanding about the ever-changing world around them.

This is why it is important to give children voice to express their opinions. This of course doesn’t mean that children’s views should be treated as absolute truths. Their point of view needs to be appreciated like anyone else’s and then put to trial with all the other opinions of others on certain matters.

Children should also be obliged to respect the rights of others.

Families

As defined by Convention on the Rights of the Child, “The family is the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of its members, particularly children.”

Families are obliged to provide care and guidance for their children and children are in return obliged to respect their parents. Unless the separation is necessary for the child's best interests, the States are also obliged to prevent children from being separated from their families.

As an integral part of a child’s emotional, psychological and physical development, the family is responsible to help the child grow up into a decent human being, respective of him/herself and others. Also, it is important for children to grow up in an environment where they are appreciated as intellectual beings and they are given space to develop that intelligence.

Members of society

The society functions well only when united. Members of the society should be ready to fulfill their human obligations – help those in need.

UNICEF has cooperated with organizations and governments and provided technical assistance to further implementation of the Convention. 

Other United Nations agencies, like the World Health Organization (WHO); UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR); and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) actively stand for by far promote rights embodied in the Convention.

Many non-governmental organizations are also included in the project. They all work for better implementation of the Convention. The world is spread through promotional products and marketing items, meetings, stands, etc. 

And while the first image of poverty that pops in our heads is usually connected to the population of the Third World, truth is poverty is an omnipresent condition of many, skulking behind almost every corner of the streets we daily pass through. This is why it is extremely important we all understand how important it is to help and save those whose lives are on the verge, stricken by poverty.