19 November 2011 | General, ISCH
Celebrating children
20 November is universal Children’s Day, an occasion to promote the welfare of children and an understanding between children all over the world. It also marks the 22nd anniversary of the adoption of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
This day is celebrated each year to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, promotes and coordinates this special day, which also works towards improving children's welfare.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) recognises and enforces the rights of children. The fundamental principles are the best interests of the child and the child’s right to non-discrimination, survival, development, protection and participation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. It was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989. A child is defined in the UNCRC as a person under the age of 18 years.
COST Action A19 ‘Children’s Welfare’ sought to understand children’s welfare in today’s aging societies, and to emphasise both theoretical and methodological approaches to children’s welfare. The main objective of the Action was to enhance the knowledge of children’s welfare in both private and public realms in terms of their access to and use of material resources, space, and time by employing a generational and a comparative perspective.
Ended in 2006, this Action identified three important factors for children’s welfare: their material welfare, their access to their own time and space, and children’s rights - including how they can take part in public debate. The Action concluded that despite the distancing between generations, children need to be acknowledged as contributing to the common good, rather than being simply a family responsibility.
The holistic approach to the welfare of children, as adopted by COST Action A19, reflects the UNCRC’s integrated approach to the rights of the child, not least because economic, social and cultural rights are dealt together with civil and political rights. COST would like to join in the celebrations for both the 2011 Universal Children’s Day and the 22nd anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
