You don’t have to be a specialist, politician or professional to take action for children’s rights. Whether or not you are in contact with children in your work, your free time or your family, each and every one of us – adults and children alike – can take action to enable each child to live, grow and develop in the best possible conditions!
In Quebec, as in Canada, child protection is a societal concern. But we must do better so that children are really considered as true actors of their rights. These rights are set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), ratified by Canada in 1991.
It is natural: adults protect their children. But what about their rights? Is protecting a child the same as respecting their rights? We often pay attention to children’s rights when we become parents, when we work in a related profession or when children become the subject of news stories. The extent of the shortcomings inherent in respecting their rights then becomes apparent, and we can only wonder: are we doing enough to respect them as a society?
On World Children’s Day, we want to promote the idea that everyone can take action in their daily lives to ensure that children’s rights are fully realised. The right to be protected from violence and abuse; the right to express oneself freely; the right to benefit from education and guaranteed access to health… the rights set out in the CRC apply to all children, without exception, wherever they are in the world and whatever their situation.
While the legal framework and public institutions must guarantee the respect of these rights, each person – child and adult alike – can and must play an active role.
The changes needed may seem too big, too difficult to implement, but on a smaller scale, they are within the reach of every person. It is the sum of all our efforts that will ensure that children live and grow up in the best conditions.
Together, let us build a present worthy of children!
In concrete terms, what can we do? Questioning our habits, our way of looking at children, questioning our biases and prejudices (Do we consider that a child’s opinion has the same weight as an adult’s? Do we make decisions affecting a child with only his or her best interests at heart?)… there are a multitude of possible actions.