Young Lives Marks Universal Children's Day with Photo Gallery
As part of today’s Universal Children’s Day (20 November 2012), Young Lives has put together a photo gallery which links what children have to say to issues highlighted by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on 20 November 1989 and 193 States have ratified it, committing themselves to aligning their laws with these international legal and ethical standards.
The Convention represented a dramatic shift in approaches to children’s development, providing a framework for addressing not only fundamental rights such as shelter, nutrition, and education, but also for children’s participation in the events and processes that affect their lives.
Senior Research Officer Virginia Morrow and Policy Officer Kirilly Pells have also written a comment piece about integrating children's rights into poverty debates.
Drawing on case studies in Andhra Pradesh, India, and in Ethiopia, their comment highlights three issues:
- Poverty is often the cause of children’s difficulties.
- There is a need for rights debates to engage with poverty
- A broad understanding is needed of how rights can, and do, function