Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/images-of-rights/5022818/
The United Nations ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989, a point in history in which the effects of rapidly expanding global population and rapidly expanding resource demands had just started to become clear for many. What do the rights of the child look like today in 2016, almost three decades past the declaration of the CRC? Application of children’s rights is as varied as the contexts in which children live: a child fleeing war in Syria; a child living in Attawapiskat; a child displaced by a gold mine in Guatemala; a child living in inner-city poverty in Chicago, Mumbai, or Sao Paulo.
We know that there has never been a larger generation of young people in the world than there is today. We also know that the world is, and will be, profoundly affected by their actions and decisions for years to come. Protecting the rights of all children to live and grow in safety and security, then, is of utmost importance for present and future generations and for the planet. After all, it is the dreams and aspirations of the children alive today, which are “shaped by circumstances into which they are born and which ...