Children's Right: Who Cares?

Many adults still consider themselves as children because of continued parental control and dependence on their parents for either accommodation, money, advice or a job. However, they must know that, no matter how much they act like children, Unicef didn't put them into consideration when it defined a child as a person under the age of 18. This clear distinction is needed for a better understanding of why people should take issues affecting children seriously.

I’ve personally had and also listened to conversations and arguments with some parents, guardians, educators and other categories of adults on the issue of children’s rights which often doesn't end the way it should. According to them, the child is theirs or in their care and they (children) or anyone else can’t decide how the child should be raised. They argue that there are certain traditions especially in Africa that can never be changed or replaced when it comes to the issue of raising or caring for a child, thus leading to a rise in the violation of the children’s rights in many ways without considering the effects.

The recent case of Joy should help buttress this point.

Case In Point

Joy was only 16 and a first-year university student before she committed suicide. Her parents initially said it was a spiritual attack because she didn’t show any sign of distress and was always happy until they saw her detailed suicide note. Joy only pretended to everyone but was not happy after being forced to study Law contrary to her choice because her father is also a lawyer and comes from a family of lawyers. She begged her uncle and a family friend to help convince her father to allow her to study creative arts, but they also refused to cite the same reason her father gave. Her father threatened not to pay her fees and also cut ties with her should she insist on studying creative arts in place of Law. Joy loved to write and looked forward to a career in the creative industry as a writer and wanted nothing else including being a lawyer. This explained why her parents’ choice and lack of family support devastated her so much that she took her own life by consuming poison.

Views

As expected, her death led to further accusations without any show of empathy.

·Many people blamed Joy for her death because according to them, it wasn’t a life-threatening situation that should make her take her own life.

·Some insisted it was a spiritual problem that her parents should have observed and addressed before it escalated.

·Her school absolved themselves of any blame but blamed her parents for not paying attention to her.

·Her schoolmates said she should have first carried out her parents' request and later return to study the course of her choice when she is older.

·The relevant government agency blamed the school for not providing counselling during their orientation exercise for new students.

Findings

Since children’s right means nothing to many, it’s therefore not surprising that no one paused for a moment to think or even cared enough to remember that adults should also consider the effects of their decisions on the children because children react differently to issues especially when they feel threatened, unprotected or perceive any lack of care, love or support.

Children’s right: why you should care

One of the expectations of the United Nation's convention on children’s rights is that everyone must know (understand) children's rights. Joy represents thousands of children in the world suffering as a result of adults not knowing and implementing the children’s rights. Let’s be reminded by this post that children also have rights such as:

· Right to be alive and develop well.

· Right to be considered when decisions that will involve or affect them are made.

· Right to ere their opinions freely

· Right to be protected from any form of violence, abuse and neglect

Though the children’s rights are not limited to these few and vary according to country, the central focus is to ensure that children are also treated as humans by taking all necessary steps to keep them healthy, safe, happy and are assured of a great future.

Therefore, the government must ensure that every child in their country can enjoy all the children’s rights through the enforcement of implementation and punishment of violators.

Quote

"Adults should always consider the effects of their decisions on the children because they (children) respond differently to issues especially when they feel threatened, unprotected or perceive any lack of care, love or support from those that should protect them."

(Constance Ogonna Egwuatu)