EU sets children’s rights summit for children by children on May 24

WHO knows the situation of the children and advocate for their basic rights better than the children themselves?

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage, a children’s rights summit for children by children will be held on May 24 at the Museo Pambata, Roxas Boulevard, Manila.

“We at the European Union have always been fiercely dedicated to our duty as an institution to help uphold the rights of children everywhere,” shared European Union Ambassador Franz Jessen. “What we hope to accomplish with the children’s summit is that every child knows and understands what protections he or she is entitled to as a young member of society.”

The European Union Delegation to the Philippines remains committed to help protect children through this summit which bears the theme : “Una sa Lahat: Bata” (More than Anything: Children First), a first of its kind being launched by the EU Delegation in the Philippines.

“With this summit, the EU Delegation to the Philippines hopes to provide an avenue for children to be educated on their rights to help them shape the world as its future leaders”.

The summit will gather more than 100 children from private and public schools as well as disadvantaged children including homeless children to raise their awareness and to empower them as advocates of their own rights. Two major resource persons in the summit trained by SOS Children’s Village and Save the Children will speak on children’s rights and their insights and experiences in their own communities. Facilitators will also be children and youth. Through theatre arts children will be taught about the basic principles of child rights.

Participants of the summit will receive a copy of the recently-published book “Karapat-Dapat,“a collaboration between the CANVAS and INK. To help children learn about their rights, selected articles from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child were rewritten in child-friendly language and colorfully brought to life by the country’s best children’s book illustrators. Save the Children will also distribute copies of books on rights and peace.

This initiative is organized in partnership with the Museo Pambata, non-government organisations including Save the Children and SOS Children’s Village, the Embassies of Austria, Czech Republic, and Sweden, non-profit organization Center for Art, New Ventures & Sustainable Development (CANVAS) and Filipino children’s book illustrators’ group Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK).

Under the UNCRC, children have the right to have their basic needs met: survival, protection, health care, food and water. They also have the right to equal opportunities to help them reach their full potential: education, play, sports, freedom to express opinions and involvement in decisions that affect them.

Guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the EU recognizes that children, described as any human being under 18 years of age, are important society members, who must be provided a healthy physical and emotional environment as they grow up. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights guarantees the protection of the rights of the child by the EU institutions and by EU countries under domestic law and EU legislation.