Unequal Access: Not All Children can Get to School

September often brings newness to children (in the northern hemisphere, anyway). It is the start of a new term and a new school year. This often comes with new school items, and new uniforms. And how will children get to school on the first day of the new term, and throughout the year? They may be able to walk or cycle, or if they live further away, use public transport, or get a lift from a parent or carer. They may have a school bus. In all honesty, this was not a topic I gave much thought to until recently. A South African organisation, that I do legal research for, asked me to look into transport as part of the child's right to education.

New things for school: Last month, my charity, Children's Helpers Worldwide supported a local organisation, Refugiu, 

so it could provide school items for some Roma children, living in a poor village. 

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a legally binding international treaty, ratified by nearly all the countries in the world, states that all children have a right to primary education and that this should be free. One of the Millennium Development Goals is to achieve universal primary education. How are we going to achieve this if there are children who are unable to safely go to and from school, due to a lack of transport? This seriously interferes with their right to an education.

Some courts have recognised transport as being being a necessary part of realising a child's right to education. The Right to Education Project reported that a Brazilian court decided that free and compulsory education as an individual public right has been interpreted to include free transport if children cannot otherwise attend school.

In a Colombian case, a girl of five had been placed in a school in another neighbourhood, due to a school quota system. The Court ordered the Government to relocate the girl to a closer school and said that, in acknowledging the transport costs in getting the child to school, the system had not taken into account the mother's lack of income and the time required to bring her daughter to the assigned school.

Image courtesy of Rawich at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sometimes schools or charitable organisations will try to help with transport. My charity, Children's Helpers Worldwide, works with an organisation in Ghana, called New Life. New Life runs a children's home and school. Children from the surrounding villages attend the school, alongside the children who live in the home. The director of New Life wants to fundraise to buy a minibus. New Life could then provide safe transport for children who live far away. This would help children who currently have to walk a very long way to attend the school and would also reach children who do not go to school at all, as the distance to travel is too far.

School Assembly at New Life, Ghana.

It may be that children and teenagers take it upon themselves to find ways to get to and from school, or to get money for transport, as shown by this disturbing article from South Africa, entitled "Dressing "sexy" to get a lift to school". Ground Up News spoke with schoolgirls in the township of Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, who were trying to get back to their homes in Mfuleni. They explained that, by dressing sexily, they can either get a lift, or get money for transport, from passing drivers. One explained that this was better than the alternative:

"When we [hitchhike] and the driver talks about sex or touches you and you get uncomfortable, you have a choice to react in a certain way. But when you are walking and someone strangles you, there is little you can do, especially when you are in an open field like the one near Mfuleni."

It is unbelievably sad that adults would take advantage of children who are just trying to get to and from school.

Children's access to education is  greatly affected by their access to transport. Children should not be prevented from getting an education because the nearest school is too far away. They should not be harassed and abused whilst simply trying to travel to and from school. If we want to achieve the Millennium Development Goal, to ensure all children have access to primary education (at least!), then we must ensure that children can actually get to school, and obtain an education. This is their right.


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This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day, taking place on 16 October 2014. The theme is inequality. Use the twitter hashtags #BAD2014 and #BlogAction14 to follow all the action and to find more bloggers posting about inequality!

Some Reflections on #DGD2014: Digital Media and Children's Rights

It has been interesting following today's Day of General Discussion (DGD) held by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, on the topic of "Digital Media and Children's Rights". You can follow the discussion which took place on twitter, by using the hashtag #DGD2014.

The discussion has just drawn to a close and here are a few, brief reflections.

The UNCRC in the Digital Age

This morning, I wrote a post and asked this question: Created in a world without social media and selfies, can the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child keep up with digital and technological issues faced by today's children?

This great tweet from EU Kids Online, of a slide from speaker, Sonia Livingstone, shows how various articles of the Convention can be effectively used to protect children and their rights with respect to digital media:

What are children's rights in the digital age? see my slide - happy to add/amend. http://t.co/jADSwBFee5 #DGD2014 pic.twitter.com/HTqLgcWw7d
— EUKIDSONLINE (@EUKIDSONLINE) September 12, 2014

The Digital Divide 

I referred to the digital divide in my post this morning. John Carr of EPCAT spoke about this issue, saying that it is common to think about the digital divide being between the Global North and Global South, but that internet access is not equal across the North. There is less access in poorer parts of the North and there are disparities within the same country. For example, poorer people in the USA have less access to digital technologies.

The digital divide does not just occur along economic lines. Some speakers stated that certain groups are particularly excluded from access to the internet, such as girls, children with disabilities and children living in institutional care. In the closing session, it was said that digital resources should be available in all parts of the world and that universal access is a goal to work towards. States should be asked to ensure equal access to digital media, and provide free or low-cost access in all areas.


Negative Impacts of Using the Internet

Concerns were expressed by various speakers about children's privacy, their digital footprint and the fact that they may post things online during "experimental times of their lives" and that they do not realise the permanence of this, as these posts, picture and videos will then remain online.

Cyber-bullying and sexual exploitation are major issues. A moving account was given by one speaker of the terrible impact cyber bullying and harassment had on her life when she was a teenager.

Protection 

The above issues all illustrate the need for protection. John Carr stated that it is important that we do not think of all children as the same. Some groups are much more vulnerable than others online. Rabi Karmacharya of One Laptop per Child said that we cannot rely on parents to protect children online. Parents may be illiterate, or may simply be at work and so are not around when children are using the internet at home. I tweeted that last quote, and got this reply from Child to Child:

So true @_Catti: children must be actors in their own protection, be it online or #irl as it's their right to #participation
— Child to Child (@ChildtoChild) September 12, 2014

This tweet from Child to Child echoed the sentiments of some of the speakers during the day, who said that children should play a key role in protecting themselves and their peers against harm and that the empowerment of children in digital media is essential to "maximise beneficial effects and minimise harm". Education in digital literacy - of children, parents, teachers and others working with and for children - will help. 

Protection versus Control

Sonia Livingstone said that protection is key, but that this cannot be a priority which is used to reduce child participation online. Other speakers emphasised the fact that "we must not confuse protection with control". One speaker highlighted the issue that many see children as "becomings" - growing into future adults - but they are "beings" and active agents in this world right now, both online and offline, and they should be part of the solution in ensuring protection online. There must be a balance between protection and the child's right to participation.


Advertising

This was not an issue I had mentioned in my earlier post, but it is an important one. One speaker made the point that digital advertising has an impact on children's rights. For example, she spoke about the impact on babies' right to health in the context of online advertising and campaigns from companies selling breast milk substitutes. It would also be interesting to further explore what regulation there is, or could be, with regards to advertising aimed at under-18s using the internet.


Guide to Human Rights for Internet Users

This Guide, published by the Council of Europe was referred to by one of the speakers. It has a section dedicated to children and young people. You can find the Guide here.


All in all, it was a very interesting day, with much discussion around a very relevant topic in today's world. Many other great points were made, but those I have included above are the ones which stood out the most for me. Please do add to this, or let me know which points you felt were most interesting in the comments below. It would be great to hear your opinions!

Digital Media and Children's Rights: A Day of Discussion

Have you used the internet as part of a school project? Were you, or one of your classmates, ever in trouble for using a mobile phone in class? If you were a child or teenager in 1989, your answer would have to be 'no'.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which sets out the rights that all children have, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989, at a time when technology was not so advanced, nor as widely accessible, as it is today. Created in a world without social media and selfies, can the Convention keep up with digital and technological issues faced by today's children?

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is responsible for reviewing progress made by States parties to implement the UNCRC. Today, it will be holding its Day of General Discussion (DGD) and the topic is "Digital Media and Children's Rights".

The Committee has asked children and teenagers for their views on the internet and how they use it. Children and teenagers are the ones who can give us all an insight into this and can help us understand their experiences online. In any case, child participation is one of the guiding principals of the UNCRC and children and young people should be part of discussions and dialogues on issues which affect them.

There are many issues children face online, including cyber-bullying, "sexting", having access to adult content and being exposed to sexual exploitation. While there are many threats, children and teenagers can benefit greatly from having access to the internet, when it is used in a safe way. It can enhance their education, be used for communication, make information more accessible and allow for collaboration with other students. Children and teenagers will also have more opportunities later in life if they have access to, and understand, how to use computers and the internet as many jobs rely on this knowledge.

This picture, from UNICEF Malaysia  illustrates how positive, and what potential there can be, for children using technology:

There are great concerns about children who do not have the opportunity to access technology. The term, "digital divide", refers to the gap between those who have ready access, and the skills to utilise, information and communication technologies and the internet, and those who do not.

My own organisation, Children's Helpers Worldwide, supports locally-run children's projects around the world.  Two education centres we support in South Africa and Romania have computers and an internet connection. Most of the children who attend the South African centre come from townships, whilst the majority of the children at the Romanian centre come from poverty-stricken Roma communities. Without these centres, they would not have the chance to familiarise themselves with this technology. One of the areas to be discussed at the DGD, is the inequality children face in accessing these resources and how this affects their rights.

There are many issues surrounding children's use of the internet, but one thing we can all agree on, is that it is here to stay. Advances in technology often occur more rapidly than the time it takes to make policy and pass legislation, making it challenging for law-makers to keep up. It is very positive that today's DGD will focus on Digital Media and Children's Rights and this will clarify how the Convention can protect children and their rights online in today's world. The discussion should be an interesting and a fruitful one.


Watch the discussion, taking place in Geneva, live here.
Join in the discussion on twitter, following the hashtag #DGD2014 or by leaving comments on this facebook event page.

A child's right to be heard

Should children be able to participate in decision-making? I definitely think so. As fellow human beings, I believe their opinions should be listened to and taken into account. In fact, they have a right to participate in decision-making, provided for in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Although, as this site, produced by Save the Children, in Wales, explains:  "This does not mean that children can now tell their parents what to do. The Convention encourages adults to listen to the opinions of children and involve them in decision-making."

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Article 12 of the Convention provides for the child's right to participate in decision-making.  This is summarised here by Eurochild:

"The right applies to decisions that affect individual children (such as decisions about their health and education) as well as groups of children (such as laws and policies). It requires adults to make sure that:

• active steps are taken to encourage and support children to give their views;
• children can express themselves in a way of their choosing, without worrying about the consequences of speaking up;
• children are told how much influence is possible and what influence they have in fact had."

States which have signed the Convention, and then made it part of their law, must implement all the children's rights and protections given in the Convention. Nearly every country in the world has made the Convention part of their law. Only three have not: Somalia, South Sudan and the USA.

The theme of Eurochild's Annual Conference, which takes place in Italy next week, is about the child's right to participate. The background paper for the Conference is here. I am really looking forward to attending and learning about the different ways people have put this right into practice!

A chance for children to complain about violations of their human rights

This year's theme for Blog Action Day is Human Rights, so I will take this opportunity to blog about a new chance for children to be able to complain about violations of their human rights at an international level. 

Image courtesy of africa at freedigitalphotos.net

There are nine UN human rights treaties. Each of the nine treaties has its own treaty body, or committee of experts, which monitors the implementation of the provisions of these treaties, by the states which have ratified them. One of these treaties is dedicated to children's human rights - the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC sets out children's most basic human rights, such as their right to survival, and protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation. It also sets standards in healthcare, education, and legal, civil and social services for children. Its treaty body is the Committee on the Rights of the Child. 

Currently, seven of the treaty bodies may, under certain conditions, receive and consider complaints or communications from individuals. This does not include the Committee on the Rights of the Child. This means that a child cannot complain to the Committee about violations of their human rights. This situation could change though...


A complaints mechanism for children's rights violations

In December 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the CRC on a communications procedure. So what does this mean? An optional protocol can either make provisions for procedures with regards to a treaty (in this case the CRC), or it can address a substantive area related to the treaty. States which are party to the main treaty can sign and ratify optional protocols. 

The communications procedure is the third Optional Protocol to the CRC. (The other two are the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.) The third Optional Protocol is not yet in force, because ten states have to ratify it first. After this, it will become international law. Children in states which ratify this Optional Protocol will then be able to submit complaints to the Committee on the rights of the Child, if their rights have been violated, and if they have exhausted all domestic remedies to seek justice. So far, eight countries have ratified the third Optional Protocol.


What sort of human rights violations would children be able to complain about?

Children would be able submit complaints to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, if their rights under the CRC had been violated, so long as their country had ratified the CRC. If their country had also ratified either or both of the other two Optional Protocols, children would also be able to submit complaints if their rights under these had been violated too.

Most countries in the world have ratified the CRC. In fact, only the USA, Somalia and South Sudan have not. Fewer countries have signed the first and second Optional Protocols. The ideal situation would be for all states to ratify the CRC and the three Optional Protocols, to give greater protection to children's rights globally, and to allow children to complain about human rights violations at an international level.


What happens next?

On the day the UN General Assembly adopted the third Optional Protocol, Save the Children made this statement: 

"Save the Children with over 80 international and national NGOs have been campaigning for many years to offer children a level of protection equivalent to that provided to adults by other core human rights treaties. Now that the international legal framework is created, the NGO coalition is dedicated to campaigning for the widespread ratification of the Protocol and making sure it is used to make a real difference in the struggle to protect children around the world."

It is important for as many states as possible to ratify the third Optional Protocol. Firstly, so that it will come into force (and just two more states need to ratify it to make this happen!), and secondly, so that as many children as possible will have access to the communications procedure and can complain about violations of their human rights. 

An international coalition concerned with the communications procedure, called Ratify OP3 CRC, has provided material which explains more about the Optional Protocol itself, including a child-friendly leaflet, as well as an advocacy toolkit and template letters you can send to your government, to urge them to ratify this Optional Protocol. All of these resources can be found on this page. 

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Giving them a way to speak out and complain against violations of their human rights at an international level, is an important and empowering thing to do.

Children's Rights and Business Principles: UK Parliamentary Launch

  
Yesterday, I attended the Parliamentary Launch of the Children's Rights and Business Principles in the UK, at the House of Commons. The Principles set out business actions to respect and support children's rights. Read on to find out what was discussed at the launch!


We started by watching the video below, which gives each of the ten Principles. You can also read them here.

Children's Rights and Business Principles

We then heard from the following speakers: David Bull, the Executive Director of UNICEF UK, David Harris, the Director of Responsible Investment of the FTSE Group and Karen Johnson, the Responsible Business Advisor from the Private Sector Department of DfID. MP Jeremy Lefroy chaired the discussion.

Developing the Principles

  
UNICEF, the UN Global Compact and Save the Children worked in partnership to develop the ten Principles. Children aged from seven to seventeen, in nine countries in the Global South, took part in a consultation process. You can download the children's feedback and the report written on their consultations from this page on the Business and Children Portal. David Bull told us that these children included street children, children with disabilities, child soldiers and child labourers.


A variety of other consultations also took place - with the private sector in the Global North and South; regionally with businesses; and with the public though the Business and Human Rights website.


David Bull said that corporate social responsibility usually took into account child labour, but this was too narrow a conception and the Principles go beyond this. They look at children's rights in the workplace, and in the market place. They are concerned with business' responsibilities within the community where they operate. They refer to looking after and protecting the environment, which children depend on to grow healthily. They look at children indirectly too, with regards to work practices concerning mothers and caregivers. 

How will the Principles be put into Effect?

  
Jeremy Lefroy, stated how important it was that the Principles do not just remain on paper, but that action is taken to implement them.  Various ways to ensure that businesses implement the Principles were discussed. David Harris from the FTSE Group said that the Principles would affect different sectors in different ways. For example the food and drink sector should take into account issues such as childhood obesity and underage drinking, and the communications sector should think about protection for minors using social media.


Before looking in more detail at possibilities for implementing the Principles by businesses, it must be noted that David Bull emphasised that under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the primary responsibility for children's rights rests with governments. It is hoped that the Principles will inform legislation. Ideally, businesses would take up implementation of the principles, but governments must effectively regulate companies which do not respect children's rights. Businesses should face consequences if they exploit children, whether directly or indirectly


Businesses and Implementation of the Principles
   
These were the main points discussed:
   

• For the Principles to have effect, companies must be monitored, be accountable, and must not be given credit where it is not due. 
• The FTSE Group can independently monitor companies, which is better than companies monitoring themselves. The Principles then have the chance to be properly and independently assessed.
• David Harris talked about the FTSE4GOOD Index Series, which measures how environmentally and socially responsible companies are. The Principles will be a vital measurement for this Index. Research will be commissioned through IRIS against companies in the FTSE4GOOD Index to see how well they are implementing the Principles.
• The implementation issue is not about philanthropy, but about business. Karen Johnson said that to be properly effective, it must make business sense to implement the Principles and this should resonate with the core decision makers of a company - not just the corporate social responsibility department.
• The Principles must be integrated into existing policies, management and public reporting, to be effective.
• Businesses should be made to see that happy and healthy children are better for the communities in which they operate. Children can be consumers; their parents are in the work force; and the children make up the future talent pool for businesses.

Other issues were also brought up during the question and answer session. The Principles were formulated to be as broad as possible for all types of businesses across the world, but it was impossible to encompass all factors, and the principles may not be so helpful with regard to the informal sector. It was also noted that the FTSE Group deals with the largest, registered companies in the world and so would not assess smaller businesses. Reputation is important to businesses though, even if they are small, and this would hopefully encourage them to implement the Principles. 

What Happens Next?

  
David Bull said that it is important to disseminate the Principles as widely as possible. According to UNICEF's Corporate Social Responsibility website, a launch event for the Principles took place in Sweden today and such events will also happen in Moldova and China next month. It is vital that business leaders know about the Principles, so that they begin to be implemented. David Bull also told us that UNICEF should be producing a workbook which will offer some guidance to help businesses implement the Principles. 

Businesses have far reaching impacts on children, and this is a good initiative to try to ensure that they respect and support children's rights. Jeremy Lefroy observed that he cannot see any of the Principles being burdens on a company. Let us hope that the Principles can be publicised and then effectively implemented, to reduce (and hopefully stop) business' negative impacts on children and build on, and improve, their positive effects.

Youth 21 and the Future of Participation

"There is no more important mission for the Twenty-First Century,"said UN Secretary General,  Ban Ki-moon, on strengthening the UN's engagement with youth. Youth 21 is a global initiative to support youth leadership. As part of the initiative, UNDP and UN-Habitat hosted a meeting from March 15-18 in Nairobi, with the goal of finding ways to better engage youth as leaders and decision-makers. 


Why is there a Focus on this Now?


There is a growing number of young people in the world, with a large percentage of the global population being children and youth. This is known as a youth bulge. Here are some statistics from Ban Ki-Moon's message on Youth 21:

• Half of the world's people are under twenty-five years years of age.
• Nearly 90 % of these young people live in developing countries.
• In the next twenty years, as many as 60 % of all urban dwellers will be under eighteen.

You can watch the whole message here:

In January, Ban Ki-Moon announced that youth will be a focus for the next five years for the UN and that he would appoint a Special Advisor on youth. He says it is important to listen to young people's voices. The Youth 21 meeting was concerned with how this can happen.

Should the Youth Rebel Against Older Generations?

The answer is "Yes!" - according to former South African President, Thabo Mbeki. Whilst addressing the Youth 21 forum, Mbeki highlighted the fact that two thirds of Africa's population consists of youth and said:  

"To ensure that [the youth] actually exercises the leadership everybody rhetorically accepts and proclaims is its due, the youth must organise and ready itself to rebel, so to speak!"

Another quote from Mbeki illustrates one of the problems young people have to overcome to take on leadership roles - the attitude of the older generations. 

"It would obviously be unnatural that I, a member of the older generation, would easily and willingly accept that younger people, my own children, should, at best, sit side-by-side with me as co-leaders, fully empowered to help determine the future of our people."

Older generations will have to accept the need for change, in a world with 1.2 billion young people, so that youth can be able to participate in making important decisions that affect everyone.

Child and Youth Participation Benefits Everybody

Participation is so important that it is a guiding principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Participation Works gives a good overview about the right to participation here.) Governance systems across the world, at local, national and international levels, are structured so that young people's participation and leadership are very much constrained. Not only does the rest of the world need to listen to the voices of these young people, but they can benefit from it too. They can gain a deeper insight into the needs of the young and  the children and youth can help provide solutions to the world's problems.

I recently found a great quote on the site of an organisation for students, aged 16-19, called Envision. One of their volunteers, Vikki, said:

"The young people really inspired me. It was so refreshing to have discussions with young people who have such strong ideals and convictions. When you listen to them tell you how we can make the world a better place, it makes you think there is still hope."

I can identify with this through my work with young people too. I was asked to speak at high schools in Argentina about the work of my organisation, Children's Helpers Worldwide, and the buzz of energy when I entered the classrooms was great, and so different to how it is entering a typical office! Young people can put their energy towards making the world a better place and solving its problems, if they can just have the opportunity to do this.

Although many probably agree that facilitating youth leadership is important, especially in a world where there are so many children and young people, it is essential that we do not just pay lip service to this idea, but actually take action to change the current systems. The Youth 21 initiative is a positive step in this process.

UNICEF's Report: "The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World" - an Overview

Picture from UNICEF's facebook page.

UNICEF launched its flagship report, The State of the World's Children: Children in an Urban World, in Mexico City on 28 February 2012. The focus on the Report was on urban areas because half of the world's population, including more than a billion children, now live in cities and towns. Reading it made me think of some of my own observations of a city of great contrasts: Cape Town. I will write a separate post about the children's projects I have worked with there. Here is a brief look at what the Report says:


The Growing Urban Population

In 2050, seven out of ten people will live in urban areas. The percentage of children living in urban areas has been steadily increasing over the past few decades, as you can see from these pie charts:

Pie Charts taken from page 2 of the Executive Summary of the Report.

Migration from the countryside was (and in some regions still is) the driving factor for urban growth but it is now estimated that children being born in cities and towns accounts for around 60% of urban growth. Most of this growth is occurring in low- and middle-income countries. One in three city dwellers are living in slum conditions. 

Ignoring the Urban Poor?

Comparisons are normally drawn between indicators of children's wellbeing in rural and urban areas (such as the proportion of children reaching their fifth birthday, or going to school, or gaining access to improved sanitation, etc). This hides the problems faced by the urban poor, as the statistics for urban children take into account the wealth of communities elsewhere in the same city. The truth is that there are wide disparities within urban areas, with marginalised children being excluded from essential services and social protection. 

City of Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China.

Picture from UNICEF's facebook page

The Rights of Children in Urban Settings

Of course children living in urban poverty have the same rights as children everywhere, but there are certain challenges which make it more difficult for their rights to be realised. Chapter two of the Report says that inadequate living conditions are among the most pervasive violations of children's rights. Evidence suggests that more children want for shelter and sanitation than are deprived of food.  

Research from different countries has shown that living in a disadvantaged urban area increases the mortality rate of children under five. The Report states:

"Poor water supply and sanitation, the use of hazardous cooking fuels in badly ventilated spaces, overcrowding and the need to pay for health services – which effectively puts them out of reach for the poor – are among the major underlying causes of these under-five deaths.

The following issues were highlighted as violating children's rights, for example their rights to survival and development, to adequate health services, to an education, and so on:

• Improved drinking water sources have failed to keep up with the urban population growth and neither have improved urban sanitation facilities. Where such facilities exist, they are often shared by a large number of people and are poorly maintained. 
• High population density make it easier for disease to spread. 
• Some diseases are preventable through immunisations, but poor service delivery and lack of information and education for parents mean many children living in slums are not immunised against such diseases.
• One third of children living in urban areas were not registered at birth. Having no legal identity may mean they are unable to access health and other services and opportunities, like having an education.  
• The higher levels of air pollution in urban areas can cause respiratory infections in children, which when severe, like pneumonia, claim lives. 
• The traffic in cities is also dangerous. It is estimated that road traffic injuries is the second leading cause of death worldwide among people ages five to fourteen. 
• HIV and AIDS has been found to be more prevalent among the urban poor. The chart below shows data from six sub-saharan African countries. Poverty can drive girls and women to commercial sex, which exposes them to sexual exploitation and forced sex. Also, children and young people in urban areas are more likely to have access to drugs and will share needles. 
• Mental health problems among children and adolescents is also an issue - children living in urban poverty have been found to have higher levels of depression and distress than the overall urban average. An often cited factor of mental distress is the stigma of being perceived as a child of the underprivileged.
• School attendance is much lower among children of the urban poor. This can be because of the costs associated with schooling, or due to other challenges. Schooling may also be of a poor quality if schools are overcrowded or lack facilities.
• Child trafficking, child labour and children living and working on the streets expose children to danger and crime and very little is done to protect them. 

From chapter two of the Report

Chapter three looks at particular challenges in urban areas. It has sections on migrant children; economic shocks - and impacts on youth employment and how unemployment levels can lead to civil unrest, usually in cities, where the greatest numbers of people are; violence and crime - including that driven by inequality and the sense of deprivation and urban gangs; and natural disasters, where the urban poor are often inadequately served and ill-equipped to prepare and recover from extreme events. 

Children I met in Buenos Aires, Argentina - in traditional dress, playing music to get money.

Ways to Improve the Protection of Urban Children's Rights

The importance of collaboration between authorities and children's rights agencies is highlighted. Much emphasis is also put on the importance of child participation in urban planning and management. This may sound unusual, and is indeed not a common course of action. The Report gives examples where children have taken part in urban planning decisions, such as the mapping project in Rishi Aurobindo Colony, Kolkata, India, and also shows how children can participate in other aspects of the governance and development of their communities through the Child-Friendly Cities Initiative. 

In addition to the above, a variety of programmes which are vital to improving the protection of urban children's rights are discussed. These include programmes which : 

• ensure non-discrimination; 
• coordinate interventions relating to hunger and nutrition; 
• encourage growing of food in the city;  
• target urban health inequalities; 
• engage young people in an effort to prevent HIV; 
• improve water supply and sanitation and hygiene services; 
• increase access to education for poor and marginalised children; 
• increase child protection; 
• develop adequate housing and infrastructure; 
• carry out urban planning in the interest of child safety (for example, by segregating traffic and reducing driving speeds, as road traffic injuries claim a disproportionate amount of young lives); 
• make cities safe for girls, supporting girls and preventing and reducing sexual harassment and violence in public spaces; 
• provide safe and accessible public spaces for play; 
• promote access to nature; 
• enhance social cohesion and cultural inclusion and encourage cultural exchange; 
• use technology to empower young people. 

This is an impressive list! If you have time to read Chapter four of the Report, I would recommend it, as it gives examples of projects in different countries for each of the categories I have listed above. 

Uniting for Children in an Urban World

This is the title of the last chapter of the Report. It explores five key areas in which action is required to realise the rights of children living in urban areas. They form the basis of the recommendations given in the Report's Executive Summary: 

1. Better understand the scale and nature of poverty and exclusion affecting children in urban areas.
2. Identify and remove the barriers to inclusion.
3. Ensure that urban planning, infrastructure development, service delivery and broader efforts to reduce poverty and inequality meet the particular needs and priorities of children. 
4. Promote partnership between all levels of government and the urban poor - especially children and young people.
5. Pool the resources and energies of international, national, municipal and community actors in support of efforts to ensure that marginalised and impoverished children enjoy their full rights.

UNICEF's report has drawn attention to the difficulties faced by children living in urban poverty and has proposed various ways to help make their rights become a reality. Hopefully this will mobilise us all to take steps towards making cities child friendly, whether this is by raising awareness, or joining or supporting initiatives aimed at improving the lives of these children and protecting their rights.

Big Day in International Children's Rights: Protection and Participation

Two significant things happened yesterday. Firstly, UNICEF's flagship report, The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World was launched in Mexico City. Secondly, the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure opened for signature at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. UNICEF's Report shows how urban inequality affects the lives of children. It goes on to make recommendations on protecting their rights.  The Optional Protocol will allow children to approach the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, if their rights are not being nationally protected and they have exhausted domestic remedies in their country.

Both the Report and the Optional Protocol are positive steps in protecting children's rights and increasing child participation. However, there is so much that still needs to be done. I will write a separate post on each soon, as both raise various issues.

One of the posters for UNICEF's 2012 Report.

The Importance of Children's Access to Music

Last Thursday I really saw the importance of music. Most mornings here in Argentina, I help at one of the Houses run by an organisation my charity supports, called Bethel. The House where I work provides an amazing and loving home for children and adults with a range of physical and mental disabilities. A visitor came to the House with a guitar, and played and sang for the people there. The reaction was great. One teenager in a wheelchair sat nodding his head to the beat, with a big smile on his face. Another girl, who calls out random words and can get quite agitated, sat calmly, listening to the music, while another boy swung his feet to the tune. It was wonderful to see everyone enjoying it! That afternoon, I was invited to go to a school in the town of Unquillo, which my organisation, CHW, also helps. We had recently given the school a donation to buy music equipment, to be able to provide good quality music education to the pupils, and I was going to see the new equipment. This is coming at a time when back home, in the UK, cuts in the budget are planned for music education.

The Benefits of Music for Children

The effect of the music on the people at Bethel made me think of the music project of another organisation which my charity supports, in Romania, called FAST. FAST is concerned with helping Roma children and families through many different projects, one of which is their Music School. FAST states on its site that music is an integral part of the Roma people's cultural background and it is being lost due to a daily struggle against poverty. By giving the children at their projects an opportunity to learn this music and dancing, the children are able to retain a part of their cultural identity. 

Cultural music and dance: Children from a Roma school perform at the "Gala pentru Supervoluntari" in Brasov, Romania, November 2011; and children at New Life International Children's Home, which CHW works with in Ghana, doing traditional dancing along to music.

Another point FAST makes is that enduring poverty gives youth few chances to express themselves through any outlet and that "music can be an outlet for their interests, energies, and sense of cultural self-worth." Children from any background could be helped to express themselves through music. The Creativity Institute, which makes educational toys in the USA, states:

"Children of all ages express themselves through music. Even at an early age children sway, bounce, or move their hands in response to music they hear. Many preschoolers make up songs and, with no self-consciousness, sing to themselves as they play. Kids in elementary school learn to sing together as a group and possibly learn to play a musical instrument. Older children dance to the music of their favorite rock and roll bands and use music to form friendships and share feelings." (You can see the full article here)

Helienne Lindvall, who attended a music school in Sweden, describes further benefits of receiving music education in a Guardian blog post. She says that singing together created a sense of community between the students, so there was less truancy as students looked forward to school, rather than dreading it. The grades obtained at the school were usually above average for all subjects. Music has been shown to have a positive effect on numeracy and literacy skills as well as behaviour. Summaries of various studies showing this can be found on the 'KidsDevelopment' website.

In November 2011, the UK Government launched it first ever National Plan for Music Education - "The Importance of Music", following the Henley Review, released earlier in the year. The Plan's foreword says: "This National Plan is clear about the importance of music: it will ensure not just that more children have access to the greatest of art forms, but that they do better as a result in every other subject." The UK Government seems to agree with the benefits of music for children. 

The UK's National Plan for Music Education

The Plan states that music education is patchy across the country and that change is necessary to ensure all pupils have access to a high quality music education. From September 2012, new music hubs will take forward the work of local authority music services and will provide a music infrastructure which transcends schools. Hubs will build on existing music services and will consist of different organisations, such as  local orchestras, ensambles, charities and other groups, working in a local area to augment and support music education in schools, as well as offer broader opportunities to children that reach beyond their school. The Federation of Music Services has produced a toolkit for developing hubs. Hubs will be formed in two stages: firstly a lead organisation will create a framework for the hub, which is in line with the National Plan, and it will then pull parties together; secondly the partners will then become the hub. The partners should be a range of providers and stakeholders committed to delivering the local music education plan, according to the area's needs.

Despite the tough economic times, funding has been ring-fenced for music education, although it decreases each year. From April 2012 to 2015, the following amounts will be available each consecutive year: £77m; £65m; £60m. The vast majority of this will be invested in the hubs and should be supplementing local and national funding for music, from, for example, local authorities, cultural organisations, businesses and foundations. Government funding, augmented by equivalent funding from the Arts Council England, will increase for the In Harmony, Sistema England programme, inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema model. This is a community development programme which aims to use music to bring positive change to the lives of children from some of the most deprived areas of England.

Yesterday it was reported (here and here) that Labour MP, David Blunkett, claimed that the Government was undermining its pledge to provide more children with access to music education by cutting funding "coupled with the near demolition of the role of local government in music education" and that this will reverse the equality of treatment already achieved. He is quoted as saying:


"It would be at least honest if the Government were to come clean and admit that those substantial cutbacks will undermine the life chances of youngsters, not merely in accessing the wonderful creative opportunity and use of talent but also the spin-off effect of music teaching of attainment in other key subject areas."

Jonathan Savage, who has written extensively on music education, wrote of his concerns about the statements in the Plan that the music education hubs cannot be funded solely by government money. This could create an unequal playing field, as some possible leaders of music hubs may have a greater potential to fundraise than others, and this may then become a influential factor in selecting hub leaders. As well as this, hubs in more affluent areas will most likely find it easier to secure funding than those in poorer areas, which goes against the Plan's stated aim for equality.


Classical Music blogger, Tom Service, wrote about the Plan the day it was launched and said that that even though the funding for music education predictably decreased each year, the fact that money was ring-fenced for this made music unique amongst the other school subjects. This meant that the Government accepted the necessity of dedicating money to music education, having taken on board the suggestions of the Henley Review. Service said that he thought the Plan seemed quite good overall, but of course, the important thing is to see what happens next. (You can see his post here.) There is added uncertainty due to the National Curriculum Review currently being undertaken, and so it is left to be seen how this may impact music education in the UK.

A Right to Music?

Children attending the music project run by FAST, in Romania

The child's right to play, leisure and recreation is set out in Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Every country in the world, apart from Somalia and the USA, have agreed to be be bound by the Convention, which sets out children's rights. A simplified version of the Convention was made for children, and it refers to music directly when summarising Article 31, stating: "You have the right to play and relax by doing things like sport, music and drama." This can be found here, on the website for Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People. 

Although music is not directly referred to in the full text of Article 31 itself, States Parties must recognise the right of children to engage in age-appropriate recreational activities and to be able to participate freely in cultural life and the arts. States Parties must also encourage the provision of equal opportunities for children to participate in cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity. The UK's National Plan seems to be attempting to provide equal opportunities, as set out in Article 31, with regards to providing music education, as it aims to address the 'patchy' provision of music education across England.

In the UK, there has been a statutory entitlement to music education for children aged five to fourteen since the Education Reform Act 1988 came in to force.The UK's Plan states:

"Most children will have their first experience of music at school. It is important that  music education of high quality is available to as many of them as possible: it must not become the preserve of those children whose families can afford to pay for music tuition. While music touches the lives of all young people, the disadvantaged can benefit most."

It is recognised how beneficial music can be for the most disadvantaged in society.  Organisations, like FAST in Romania, are doing great work when they reach out to children living in extreme poverty. (FAST is not just concerned with music - it has a general education project, helps build homes for families, and much, much more.) A lot of Roma children across Europe do not attend school. Many states, around the world, struggle with providing a primary education for all children, although making primary education free and compulsory for all is an obligation under Article 28 of the Convention. Where this is the case, it is unlikely the governments will give much (if any) priority to music education. 

Feeling the Beat!

Drumming at New Life International Children's Home in Ghana

The enjoyment of simply having music in their Home was evident from the people's reaction at Bethel, as they heard the beat. Music and music education offer a lot of benefits to children. I am glad that CHW could help children at the school in Unquillo have access to a better music education. The immense benefit of music education is recognised in the UK's Plan for Music Education, and now we must wait and see how effectively it is carried out. I really hope it will be successful in moving towards equal access to music education for children across England. I believe that projects, such as FAST's, are very much worth supporting, as music can enhance children's skills in various areas, be a way they can express themselves, provide a link to the culture and give them a sense of self-worth. I will leave you with a quote from Jim Henson, the television producer and puppeteer, who created the Sesame Street characters and puppets, loved by children around the world:

“Music is an essential part of everything we do. Like puppetry, music has an abstract quality which speaks to a worldwide audience in a wonderful way that nourishes the soul.”