3 DECADES LATER, IT'S STILL A WILD WORLD FOR CHILDREN
ON November 20, the world celebrates the 30th year of ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the treaty described by former South African President and anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela as “the luminous living document that enshrines the rights of every child without exception to a life of dignity and self-fulfillment.” The landmark treaty was inspired by the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, written by Save the Children founder Eglantyne Jebb, who saw children suffer the harshest impact of World War I and founded Save the Children—100 years ago.
She drafted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child that was adopted by the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations. The document inspired the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and was ratified in 1989.
The core general principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are:
Non-discrimination (Article 2)
THE Convention applies to every child without discrimination, whatever their ethnicity, sex, religion, language, abilities or any status, whatever they think or say, whatever their family background.
Best interest of the child (Article 3)
THE best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.
Right to life survival and development (Article 6)
EVERY child has the right to life. Governments must do all they can to ensure that children survive and develop to their full potential.
The right to be heard (Article 12)
EVERY child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously. This right applies at all times, for
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example, during immigration proceedings, housing decisions or the child’s day-to-day home life.
The Philippines became the 31st country to ratify the landmark convention in 1990. A year after, it enacted Republic Act 7610 or the Act Providing for Stronger Deterrence and Special Protection Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination, or the antichild abuse law.
Last week, the Department of Education hosted the First National Summit on Children’s Rights to highlight the Philippine government’s obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the inalienable rights of every child, or anyone under the age of 18.
At the Summit, Save the Children Philippines called for the enactment of Inclusive Education for Children and Youth with Disabilities, a bill pending at the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The bill aims to fulfill the rights of every child to quality education regardless of gender, language, ability, religion and nationality, and to be supported by the state to learn alongside peers and develop their full potential.
“Poverty and disability magnify a child’s vulnerabilities since they limit access to necessary services such as education and the overall fulfillment of the child’s rights,” said Muyot.
In the Philippines, an estimated 1.3 million children with disabilities, mostly in deprived and marginalized situations, do not have access to education, putting them at risk of suffering from intergenerational poverty.
In 2017, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) indicated that more than 3.6 million Filipino children do not go to school and half of them are forced to drop out of school due to poverty.
Save the Children’s annual Global Childhood Report 2019 ranked the Philippines 102nd out of 176 countries evaluated based on children’s access to healthcare, education, nutrition and protection from harmful practices like child labor and child marriage.
Sadly, over the past 20 years, the country has only moved 37 points, from 763 to 800 (top score is 1,000).
The Philippines moved up two notches from 104th place in 2018, but did not recover from being 96th two years ago despite its steady economic growth.
This year, the Philippines lags behind other Asian neighbors such as Singapore in first position, China (36), Brunei Darussalam (63), Malaysia (71), Thailand (86) and Vietnam (95).
“The steady economic growth of the Philippines over 20 years has unfortunately not translated into the lives of many Filipino children. We must invest more in children to ensure they grow up healthy, educated and protected,” said Muyot.
Save the Children believes that children have the right to be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence.
The Council for the Welfare of Children’s data shows that physical and psychological violence, particularly in the home setting, remains to be the most pervasive type of violence experienced by Filipino children.
The National Baseline Study on Violence against Children reveals that 3 in 5 children experienced some form of physical violence. An alarming 60 percent of these cases happened in the home with one in two children experiencing corporal punishment. About 4.6 percent led to the hospitalization of children.
The report also showed the lifetime prevalence of psychological violence during childhood, which was estimated at 59.2 percent. This indicates that almost 3 out of 5 children have been verbally abused, threatened and/or abandoned by their parents or guardian.
Children are not spared from violence while in school. The study also reveals a lingering culture of violence against children in a place where they should be protected.
It cited that 3 out of 5 children experienced bullying in school. Of this figure, 14.3 percent of children experienced physical violence in school; 23 percent of children experienced psychological violence in school; and 5.3 percent of children experienced sexual violence in school.
Children are not also safe even in the digital platforms. The SaferKids Philippines project reveals that the Philippines is a top global source of child pornographic materials, with most perpetrators being the parents and relatives of the minors.
Because of these gaps in protection—and in fulfilling the noblest aspirations of the “luminous living document” referred to by Mandela—Save the Children Philippines continues to work with parents, teachers and local communities to fulfill children’s rights to grow healthy, safe and be protected from all forms of violence in all settings.
It was a long journey to the UNCRC, and an even longer journey to fulfilling even the most basic of its goals. Meanwhile, millions of children wait.
SANTA CLARITA, California—People who knew the 16-year-old boy suspected of killing two students in a burst of gunfire at a high school outside Los Angeles described him as a quiet, smart kid who they’d never expect to turn violent.
One fellow junior at Saugus High School said the suspect is a Boy Scout who she relied on to study for advanced placement European history. A student in his physics class said he seemed like “one of those normal kids.” A next-door neighbor who grew up with him said he kept to himself but was never threatening.
The attacker shot five students, seemingly at random, and then shot himself in the head around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, his 16th birthday, authorities said. Two students died, and the gunman was gravely wounded.
Police have not publicly identified the shooter because he’s a minor. The Associated Press determined his identity based on property records for his home, which police said was searched after the shooting, and interviews with three of his friends.
The boy lived with his mother in a modest home on a leafy street in Santa Clarita, a Los Angeles suburb of about 210,000 people known for good schools, safe streets and relatively affordable housing.
His father died two years ago. Two years before that, the father had been arrested amid a domestic dispute with the boy’s mother.
“A quiet, to-himself kid,” said Ryan McCracken, a 20-year-old next-door neighbor. When McCracken was younger, he said they played together, sometimes in boy’s backyard tree house. “You wouldn’t expect anything like that from him.”
Police said they had yet to determine a motive and any relationship between the gunman and the victims. Authorities said they have no indication the boy was acting on behalf of any group or ideology.
They confirmed a message— “Saugus, have fun at school tomorrow”—was posted to the Instagram account believed to belong to the suspect before the shooting and were trying to determine its relevance and whether someone else with access to the account might have written it.
The account provided little insight about him. It mainly featured goofy clips, some with people crashing bicycles or failing to land stunts.
Brooke Risley, a junior at Saugus High, said she had known the boy since elementary school and saw him Wednesday in engineering class. Last year, they were paired on engineering projects and sometimes he came to her house.
She couldn’t recall anything indicating he might be violent. The closest she could get was a keychain he had with a hollow bullet.
Risley described the boy as somewhat introverted, though open with his close friends, and “naturally smart.” She said he wasn’t bullied, had a girlfriend and had been an active member of a local Boy Scout troop.
Results posted online from school track meets last spring show the boy was an unexceptional middle- and long-distance runner. His GPA landed him on the honor roll in the fall of eighth grade, according to online school records.
Joe Fitzpatrick, a senior who helped the teacher in the boy’s physics class, called him a “good, quiet kid” who didn’t miss assignments and did well on tests.
“He just seemed like one of those regular kids,” Fitzpatrick said.
The boy’s father died two years ago, according to an online obituary, which said he worked for a health-care company for 33 years as a field service engineer and “loved big game hunting and fishing of all kinds.”
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department records published in a local newspaper, his father was arrested in June 2015 on suspicion of attempted battery on his wife. It’s unclear how the case was resolved.
Authorities were questioning her Thursday, searching for an explanation like so many others.
“We’re all wondering,” said Risley, “what was the motive?” AP