Christiana Louisa: CHILDRENS RIGHTS ASSIGNMENT

CHILDREN'S RIGHTS ASSIGNMENT

EVERY CHILD HAS RIGHTS

First of all, before beginning this assignment, I looked up the meaning of 'rights' in the dictionary. Rights means something that a person is morally or legally entitled to do or to have.
This assignment is all about children's rights, meaning things that children are entitled to have, either for humanitarian reasons, or by law. I must admit that I was shocked by what I have learnt regarding this subject. Before I started this assignment I thought most children were just like me. Of course, I know by looking around me here in Indonesia, that not every child lives in the same conditions as I do, but I thought it was because of peoples lack of financial resources that they live in less that pleasant surroundings or that they have a lack of basic needs. But it actually goes much deeper than just money, or the lack of it. I know that God created me, just the same as He created every other child in the world. I also know that God loves every child, just the same as He loves me. No more, no less. Why then, are so many children all over the world denied their basic rights? This is the fault of human beings and how we treat one another, by no means does it mean that God loves any child less or that He allows children to suffer. Absolutely not. The human rights issues that are present in the world are here because of humans treatment of other humans. Every child has rights, the right to know God, the right to food, the right to clean drinking water, the right to speak and be heard, the right to be immunised against sicknesses and diseases, the right to shelter and the right an education, the right to feel protected and to be loved. There were so many shocking stories on the internet, I have visited many, many sites and the situations in some parts of the world are saddening. Because I can not mention all of the stories that I have read, I want to focus and explain in short detail one of them that touched my heart, or should I say, broke my heart. In India, as I found out, girls are not treated like boys. Girls are apparently not worth as much as boys. A girls life therefore, is much different to that of a boy. For instance, if a young girl wants to drink from a well with clean drinking water she must line up behind the last boy. Likewise, if a young girl would like part of a distribution of food, clothing rations or any other basic need, she is only entitled to it after every boy, young or old, has first received his share. This is also true for the education of young children. There are limited places or positions in schools so every position is first offered to a male child. Some parents don't even bother sending a female child to school, even when positions are available, feeling that the young girl is not worthy of an education. If all of that information didn't upset me enough, the next part of the story certainly did. Some babies, if the parents or mother finds out her unborn child is a girl, will have the child killed before it is born or, in some cases, as soon as it is born. Simply because of it's gender. In the particular case that I read about it was because the mother of the unborn child did not want to disgrace her new husband by giving him a female child, so as soon as the child was born it was put to death by suffocation. That is a terrible, horrible, sinful thing for anyone to do, but for the mother of the baby to do that to her own flesh and blood? This is not the only upsetting story I read. There are so many horrible stories all over the world where children are denied their basic rights. Thankfully, there are people and organizations out there fighting for children's rights. By visiting the website addresses listed below in my bibliography, you can find out more information about these wonderful organisations, and how they are committed to helping and protecting children.

MODERN DAY ABUSES OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

Now that the Internet and various other forms of technology are so widely available and have become so frequently used by children,
new abuses of children's rights have come to light. New technology brings new potential and many wonderful new opportunities for everyone who has the facilities available. For children the availability of study and research material is at their fingertips. The Internet is a treasure trove of wonderful information for me and other young children. My grade three teacher, Mrs Jane, is making us very aware of the dangers involved whilst using the Internet. I have learnt so much from my teacher, Mrs Jane, not only about the internet but about computers in general. In just a few short months I have learnt how to send e-mails, start a blog spot, research and find information about different topics relating to our homework and our entire class presented our portfolio to our parents digitally. A few months ago I could only play games on the computer. This is all wonderful news, but there is some news that is disturbing. The abuse of children's rights on the Internet presents a real danger to all children if we do not follow the directions of our teacher and other adults. Some people, knowing children are very trusting, try to fool or trick children into giving them information, or they use information that children have already made available in a bad way. We must be very aware, always being careful and asking assistance from an adult if we have any concerns. In my house we must be with an adult if we want to use the internet, just in case any concerns or questions come up. There are basic rules that we have discussed in our classroom and that I have also read whilst finding information for this assignment. We must never make available any information whilst on the internet that relates to us personally, for example, our telephone number, our address or any other information that could be used to make contact with us, or for someone to locate us without our consent. Not everyone who uses the internet does so for the same reasons that you and I do. Some people have bad motives and purposely go looking for children to exploit. Our childhood is very precious and we have parents to protect us, however we also have a responsibility to help our caregivers protect us by reporting any situation, be it an uncomfortable experience or fears that we may have. By learning about children's rights we can help to educate ourselves and therefore further protect ourselves against unsavoury people.

Bibliography - On-line resources: Internet-world wide web

http://www.child-abuse.com/childhouse/childrens_rights/index.html

http://www.compassion.com/default.html

http://www.crin.org/organisations/viewOrg.asp?ID=3021

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25242124@N00/4319044

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy

http://www.icra.org/kids/billofrights/

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs21-children.htm

http://www.unicef.org/crcartoons/list.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children

Posted by Christiana Louisa on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 7:53 AM | Permalink