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Introduction
Children are human beings who are still young and among them there are those who are very young. By virtue of them being human beings, they possess particular moral status. They are not supposed to be subjected to some kind of treatment because they are human. But at the same time, the children are not on the same level as mature human beings and therefore there are those activities they are not allowed to carry out, which the adults are allowed to. For example, in most of the jurisdictions, the children are not allowed to engage in voting, marrying, purchasing alcoholic drinks, getting involved in sexual activities or being employed for payment. According to Callan (2002) , the reason for causing children to turn out to be a special case for concern “is this combination of their humanity and youth”.
Among the questions that have been raised is the question of whether or not the children have rights and if they have, whether the rights they have are the same as those the adults have. More so, another question that has been raised in line with this is that; if the children do not have rights that are the same as those of the adults, what are measures that have been put in place to make sure that the children are given treatment that is morally right? In many countries, the jurisdictions that have been put in place accord legal rights to children. Of great significance, many of the nations are signatories to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which was set up in the year 1989. This convention accords a broad spectrum of rights to the children. One of the most important righteousness that have been accorded to the children under this convention is the children’s right to have “best interests” in all the activities that affect them. Another one is “the right to life” and also “the right of a child who is capable of expressing his or her own views, to express these views freely in all matters affecting the child” (United Nations 1989).
This UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is of great significance in ensuring that children have rights. There have been several cases where children have been abused. Children have been victims of war in which some have been killed, others have become refugees or internally displaced persons thus being exposed to various forms of abuse, they have served as child soldiers, some have faced detention, others have been abused sexually, girls have been subjected to genital mutilation, and still others have been forced to engage in child employment under which they have been exploited. Following these ills to which the children in many nations all over the world have been exposed, it can be clearly seen that children need rights and these rights need to be legally recognized to ensure that they are protected to the maximum level possible. Even if some people have come up with arguments against children having rights, especially those rights that are legally recognized and argued that the children are not at the same level as adults to have rights and need some other form of protection from the adults; such arguments can be seen to be invalid especially considering the abuse the children are experiencing all over the world and therefore, children need rights.
Do children need to have rights?
The questions that have been put forth by some people are; do children need to have rights, and if they need to have rights, which kind of rights are they supposed to have? It is important to be aware that rights can be moral or legal rights. Based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the children possess the rights in law. These are not necessarily accepted as being moral rights. On the other hand, as O’Neill (1988) points out, “if children have moral rights these need not be enshrined in law, although there would evidently be a strong presumption that they should” (Page 457).
Some people have presented claims that children are supposed to have all the rights which older people have. Such kinds of people having this view are referred to as “liberationists”. Among this people that embrace this view is Cohen, Holt and Farson (Cohen 1980, Holt 1975 and Farson 1974). A distinction can be made between real liberationists and rhetoric liberationists. The rhetorical liberationists do not really have a belief that the children are supposed to be given equal rights as the mature people. Instead, they have thoughts that presenting claims as such is the most excellent way of realizing the advancement of their interests. On the other hand, the real liberationists don’t see any difference between adult people and children but they regard them as being on the same level. More so, there are those people who believe that children are supposed to have some rights but they should not have all the rights that the adults are supposed to have.
Still, there is that group of people that believes that children are not supposed to have any rights. They claim that children are not qualified like adults to have rights. They also claim that attribution of rights to children is not appropriate for the reason that this brings in a lack of understanding of what childhood really is or the relationship that is supposed to exist between children and adults (Archard, 1993). More so, they also argue that, even if the children may not be given the rights, they can have assurance of receiving moral protection in other ways.
Generally, children do not have some particular cognitive abilities that enable them to obtain information and process it in a manner that is orderly, to set up beliefs that are firm and to have acknowledgement of the importance of available alternatives and their outcomes. More so, the children do not have particular volitional capabilities that enable them to come up with decisions or choices that are independent. However, children are not distinct among human beings in this regard. There are those adult people who are mentally retarded and they are also considered as being incapable of making independent choices. This implies that these people are just like children. But then, the children are not similar to such people. It is true to say that not all the human beings in the world are mentally retarded or have ever been exposed to this condition. But on the other hand, it is true to say that all adult human beings at some point in life were children and have experienced what being a child is like. Therefore, each and every person in the course of the early years of his or her life was not capable of possessing rights even though in adulthood life, he or she is so capable to possess the rights. Basing on these claims, the child’s lack of capacity would tend not to qualify them to possess liberty rights. According to Griffin (2002) “if all human rights are best interpreted as protecting human agency and its preconditions, then it would follow that those incapable of agency, such as young children, should not be accorded human rights (page 27). However, as Brighouse (2002), points out “whilst children lack agency they certainly have fundamental interests meriting protection and thus at least have welfare rights” (Page 36). More so, it can be of great significance to make recognition that children turn out to be human beings that are able to make decisions and that they may qualify to have rights through recognizing this continual growth (Brennan, 2002).
Why children need rights
According to Amnesty International USA (2010), ensuring that human rights are there for children is an asset for the future. The rights of children are the materials for setting up a strong culture for human rights and this forms a base for protecting human rights for the coming generations. It is pointed out that “as human beings, children are entitled to all the rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and the various covenants that have developed from it” (Amnesty International USA, 2010, Para 2). However, in addition, children are supposed to be given special care and protection. They are supposed to be in a position to have dependence on the adult people to give them care, to protect their rights and to offer them assistance in order to build up and have realization of the potential they have. According to Amnesty International, USA (2010), the governments around the world have presented claims to embrace this ideal. However, these governments have in turn shown signs of failure about making sure that there is respect for children’s rights.
In a similar way as adults, children undergo suffering that stems from the human rights violations but the children may also be easy targets for the reason that they are reliant and defenseless. Among some states, officials get involved in tormenting and mistreatment of the children, the children face detention, either lawfully or arbitrarily and even in some nations, the children may face death sentences. During wars, children have been mercilessly killed and a large number of them have escaped from their homes to turn out to be refugees. Those children that have been driven by poverty to go and become street children or forced by abuse in some cases face detention, attack and even death. Millions and millions of children are victims of child labor and they are highly exploited and others have been forced in to child prostitution among other evils.
The international community has come to realize the vitality of offering protection to children against these evils that they are exposed to. The initial attempt to ensure there is protection of children against abuse was carried out in the year 1959 where there was coming up with 10 principles by the “United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child” but at that time it was not legal for these principles to be enforced. Later in time, in the year 1989, there was adoption of the “Convention on the Right of the Child” by the United Nations General Assembly and this was enforced in the course of the year that followed (1990). From that time, the UN “Convention on the Rights of the Child” has been approved by all the all the member countries of the United Nations apart from Somalia which has not been able for a long time to have a government that can effectively run the national affairs effectively. The CRC has also not been approved in the United States of America.
The “Convention on the Rights of the Child” facilitates elaboration of the rights in accordance to the child’s special needs as well as his or her viewpoints. The CRC is the sole human treaty for human rights “that covers the full spectrum of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, stressing their indivisible and interdependent relationship” (Amnesty International USA, 2010 Para 9). By it having an all-inclusive nature and almost general approval, the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” emerges to be a landmark for global agreement on the fundamental principles of the “universality and indivisibility of all human rights” (Amnesty International USA, 2010).
Basing on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, any person who is below eighteen years of age is regarded as a child unless stated otherwise by the law about who an adult is. This provision poses significant challenges for putting in to use the CRC and most particularly in nations in which the age of adulthood is connected to puberty which is an age that is mostly not the same among boys and girls. Basing on the Convention on the Rights of a child, all the nations are supposed to set up the lowest possible age for criminal responsibility, which is, “according to the Beijing Rule (1), should ‘not be fixed at low an age level bearing in mind the facts of emotional, mental and intellectual maturity’ “ (Amnesty International USA, 2010, Para 11). Even if a nation may fix the “criminal responsibility age” at an age lower than eighteen years, the rights in the CRC are still relevant, and essentially those rights that govern the treatment of the child at the operations of the authorities.
Among the directing rules is the rule that the “best interests of the child” is supposed to be a basic concern in all dealings that are linked to the child. All the children possess the right to be heard and the right to present what they think about issues that affect them so that these issues may be considered or resolved. Those children who may still be very young depend on other people in expressing their opinions and having their best interests protected but as they become older and older with time, they turn out to be more and more capable of expressing themselves and to take part in coming up with decisions by themselves.
It is the responsibility of any government to make sure that there is enjoying by the children of the rights that they have. Not even a single child is supposed to be subjected to discrimination. It was made clear in the Cult Education Forum (2010) that there should be application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child “regardless of race, color, sex, property, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, ethnic or social origin, disability, birth or any other status” (Para 7). There need to be equal offering of opportunity to the male child as well as to the female child. The disadvantaged children due to poverty, disability, being refugees, and coming from minority or indigenous groups are supposed to possess the same rights just as the rest of the children. They are supposed to be given equal rights to education, equal rights to grow, and all of them are supposed to enjoy sufficient living standards.
The children’s rights that are found in the CRC are put in four major classes. These classes include:
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Subsistence rights
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Development rights
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Protection rights
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Participation rights
The subsistence rights concern the rights to obtain food, healthcare and the rights to have shelter. The development rights concern those rights that need to be possessed by the child to realize full potential in life including the right to education, religion and the freedom of thought. Protection rights refer to the right to life and the protection against abuse and exploitation and also against being neglected. Participations rights are rights that allow the child to play an active part in the community life as well as the political life (Cult Education Forum, 2010).
On the other hand, not only does the Convention on the Rights concern itself with the rights of the child, but it as well concerns the responsibility the child is supposed to have in regard to respect for the rights of those people around him or her or those people the child comes across. This convention makes recognition that all the children are supposed to be in a position to grow up in a family environment that is dominated with love and happiness, and this convention also makes stipulation that the duty of the family is to offer assistance to the child in order for him or her to have understanding of the rights he or she has and the responsibility he or she has so that this child can be prepared to live a life in which he or she embraces peace, freedom, equality, togetherness, perseverance, and integrity.
Cases of Child Abuse and the need to have rights
Most of often, during a war many children are greatly affected. Among the children, there are those who have experienced war throughout their lives and have never known peace. There are also those children whose world has changed when the war started up in their area and they have turned out to be refugees or internally displaced persons, parting with their family members. More so, millions of children have been killed during the war and others have been left as orphans after their parents being killed in the course of the war. To add on this, there have been common cases, as the result of war, of children suffering malnutrition, starvation and lack of other essential things that are vital for a better living. Many children have also experienced trauma after being witnesses of brutal murder, their lives marked with violence around them and going through fear and hardships. Still, there has been a large number of children who have been forced to take part in killing other people.
Not in all cases are the children accidental victims of the war. There are cases where there is deliberate murdering of the children by the soldiers as well as by the armed opposition groups. This has been carried out for either of the two main reasons. One of the main reasons is that this is carried out in revenge and the other reason for carrying out this is as a way of provoking anger in one another’s community. The young girls are sexually abused. Taking the case in India, young boys are targeted by the soldiers with a belief that these young boys may be supporting the armed opposition groups or they might be potential members of these groups in time to come (Amnesty International USA, 2010).
The children have been forced to be members of the armed groups, either armed forces or armed opposition groups through intimidating them and threatening to kill their family members. Still, there are cases where children have volunteering to join. This has come about for the reason that these children are ready to fight, or in some cases it is because their families do not have food and other basic needs, or they have joined for the reason that they do not have homes and they lack food and sufficient security. Many of these children are not given enough training to engage in the fight as well as being given effective equipment before they are exposed to the war of adult people.
Resulting from this, many deaths have occurred among children and this has resulted from their lack of experience and training, and also because they have been given the most dangerous assignments during the war and such assignments may include planting the landmines or the intelligence work. According to Kaplan (2005) “in Colombia, child soldiers are sometimes called little bees, because of their size and agility enables them to move quickly and sting their enemies” (Paragraph 12).
Considering the case in Uganda, there have been cases of kidnapping of a large number of children by the LRA and these children have been forced to engage in fighting against the military forces of this country. These children that are abducted by this opposition group become the property of the commanders of the group and the girls are forced to get married to these people and they become their sexual slaves. As Dolan ( 2002) points out “LRA commanders force children to take part in the ritualized killing of others soon after they are seized, apparently to breakdown resistance, destroy taboos about killing, implicate children in criminal acts and generally to terrorize them” (Para 4).
Taking the case of Burundi, a number of children have been arrested and put in prison accused of having worked together with the armed opposition groups. However, among these children, there are those who have come to work together with the armed opposition groups forcefully, carrying weapons and carrying out other tasks. Not even one among these children has been tried (Amnesty International USA, 2010).
The subject of child soldiers has turned out to be of much concern on a higher level on the list of items of the global community. “The Convention on the Rights of the Child in the present day has put the minimum age for a child to be recruited in the armed forces and take part in hostilities at 15 years” (Amnesty International USA, 2010). But on the other hand, the Non-governmental organizations have been presenting arguments to bring to an end the use of child soldiers and they have insisted that for the child to be recruited, he or she needs to have attained a minimum age of eighteen years. This argument by the NGOS has been supported by such organizations as UNICEF, UNHCR, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the “Expert of the UN Secretary-General on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” ( Amnesty International USA, 2010). The United Nations itself does not permit those people under the age of eighteen years to engage in serving as peacekeepers any more.
In acknowledging the Convention on the Rights of the Child, several governments show commitment to protect the rights of the child. The CRC makes a declaration that each and every child has a right to attain an education and have an improved standard of living. It sets up the child’s right not to be prone to being abused sexually and being exploited in any way and using illegal drugs. The Convention on the Rights of Child brings commitment to the nations to bring the young people from being exploited economically or experience interference with their education and being exposed to poor health.
However, ensuring delivering this commitment is something that is greatly challenging. Among the governments, there are those that have taken a move to put in place legislation to protect children from being exposed to child labor and have put in place educational programs to ensure all the children achieve an education. But this move can not justify the manner the officials of the state assist in perpetuating a broad array of abuses that are exercised against children in the family as well as in the community either by way of dynamic involvement and participation or implicit toleration and compliance.
The range of child abuses in the community as well as in the family includes violence in the family and being treated in an ill manner in institutions among others. Children being prone to such abuses as these ones is dependent on other features of the identity they have like gender, the ethnic group they come from and the economic status that is associated with them. This serves to remind in a strong way about lack of divisibility of the human rights. Denying a particular set of rights brings about abuse of the other sets of the rights. The children refused to have an education for the reason that they are girls or for the reason of their poor economic status and exposed to forced labor face conviction of a series of marginalization, poor living standards and lack of power that brings in more violation of their rights.
More so, children in most parts of the world are exposed to hard work. They work in such places as mines, factories and brothels among other places. The children are mostly subject to work in such environments that are very dangerous and unhealthy. Following this, this is an indication that the children are not always given their rights that are promise to them by the Convention on the Right of the Child like recreation and health among other rights. They end up leading their lives as illiterate people and lack skills and this result in to these children turning out to be criminals. A large number of children are sold out by their parents in to slavery or they are also forced in to employment.
Another issue that relates to the rights of the children is the issue of female genital mutilation. This problem has been very common is such places as Africa where the young girls are forced to undergo genital mutilation as a way of initiating them in to adulthood. They are not allowed to get married if they fail to undergo this ritual. However, keen consideration of this issue clearly shows that this is a form of violence against children as well as women and a way of depriving them their basic rights. Efforts are being carried out to deal with this issue by governments. A case can be taken from Cote d’Ivore where there has been presentation of a bill that is aimed at prohibiting female genital mutilation. More so, such efforts have been made by such countries as Egypt and Ethiopia among others (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2008).However, much still need to be done. This should be carried out bearing in mind that the children’s rights need to be protected.
There are many more abuses that are committed against the children. The children have been exposed to unfair procedures in the judicial systems. Some have faced unfair detention and some have even been sentenced to death. More so, those children. Children in refugee camps and the IDPs camp have been subjected to exploitation ranging from sexual abuse and being deprived the right to have access to basic needs. In most cases, those children in the in IDP camps are not able to continue with their education. But on the other hand, those who have been able to across borders to enter in to other countries as refugees stand a better chance to be protected by these governments especially if they are those that are signatories to the CRC. But unlucky enough, this is not often realized (Amnesty International USA, 2010).
Conclusion and recommendations
Children need rights. These rights that need to be given to children are aimed at protecting them against the abuses to which they may be exposed. Children have been victims of war, they have served as child soldiers, some have faced detention, others have been abused sexually, girls have been subjected to genital mutilation, and still others have been forced to engage in child employment under which they have been exploited among other abuses. All these evils that have been committed against children need to be done away with. To do away with these child abuses, appropriate laws need to be put in place to ensure that the children have rights and these rights are protected in the most efficient manner possible.
The CRC places “the best interest of the child” at the core in all the activities regarding the child. All the governments, families and opposition groups among all other parties are supposed to abide by this principle in whatever the matter that concerns the child treatment. However, the government stands at a better position in implementing all the moves that are aimed at protecting the child. One of the moves that are supposed to be taken by governments is the move of ensuring passing of legislation that gives assurance of the realization of the children rights that are set out in the Convention on the rights for the child and avail sufficient resources to ensure implementation of these rights.
Another initiative that needs to be taken by the governments is to make sure that those children who are in detention or under the care of either private or public institutions are offered protection against torture or any other ill treatment. More so, the governments of nations all over the world are supposed to make sure that those people who are below 18 years of age that come across the justice system are exposed to the judicial dealings that are special basing on the basic principles for juvenile justice that have been established by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Another move that is supposed to be undertaken by the governments in all nations is to ensure enforcement of global prohibition of subjecting children to death penalty for the crimes they commit and particularly when they have not attained the age of eighteen years. The governments should also make sure that the children face detention in only those cases where this is seen as the only remaining options and they should be detained for the minimum time period possible. They are not supposed to be detained unfairly like in such cases where their parents were suspects or those people close to them.
Another move that need to be undertaken by governments is to ensure banning of recruitment of children in the armed forces and sternly forbid any taking part of children in armed hostilities. More so, the governments should put in place measures to ensure that there is protection of those children who are refugee or internally displaced. This move should be aimed at protecting children against such ills as sexual exploitation and recruitment to enter in to armed forces. Measures should be in place to help in ensuring that these children are resettled in a most dignified manner and in a safe manner.
Still, as a move to ensure that children enjoy their rights, the governments should take immediate measures to bring to an end dangerous and exploitative kinds of labor for the children and these kinds of practices include exposing children to commercial sex, bonded labor and any other form of work that puts in danger the well-being of the children. Lastly, the governments are supposed to set up all-inclusive programs that ensure there is promotion of equal treatment of children regardless of whether they are boys or girls and to do away with those cultural practices that are harmful to the children.
References
Archard, D., 1993. Children: rights and childhood, Oxon: Routledge. Amnesty International USA, 2010, Humankind owes the child the best it has to give. Web.
Brennan, S., 2002, Children’s Choices or Children’s interests: Which do their rights protect? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brighouse, H., 2002, What rights (if any) do children have? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Callan, E., 2002, Autonomy, Child-Rearing, and Good Lives, in The Moral and Political Status of Children: New Essays, D. Archard and C. Macleod (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press: 118-141.
Center for Reproductive Rights, 2008, Female genital mutilations: Legal prohibitions worldwide.
Cohen, H., 1980, Equal rights for children, Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams, and Co.
Cult Education Forum, 2010, The Convention on the Rights of Child (the CRC). Web.
Dolan, C., 2002, Which children count? The politics of children’s rights in northern Uganda.
Farson, R., 1974, Birthrights, London: Collier Macmillan.
Griffin, J., 2002, Do children have rights? In The moral and political status of children: New Essays, D. Archard and C. Macleod (eds), Oxford: Oxford University Press: 19 – 30.
Holt, J. C., 1975, Escape from childhood: The needs and rights of children, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Kaplan, E., Child soldiers around the world. Web.
O’Neill, O. 1988, Children’s Rights and Children’s lives, Ethics, 98: 445 – 463.
United Nations (1989), The Convention on the Rights of the Child, reprinted in Children, Rights and the Law, P. Alston, S. Parker and J. Seymour (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press: 245 – 264.
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