CHILDREN'S RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS 2001-2003
The Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty to protect the rights of children throughout the world, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989. Within ten years, 191 countries had ratified this treaty, making it the most widely ratified human rights instrument in history. Today, only two countries – Somalia, which has no central government, and the United States – have failed to become State Parties to the Convention. From 2001 to 2003, EarthAction led four campaigns concerning the CRC. The overall theme for the four campaigns was, “You Are a Child.” Details on each campaign with their specific themes follow.
EDUCATION FOR ALL--2001
You are Six and Your Education is Over. You are one of 120 million children ages six to twelve who have never gone to school. Article 28 of the CRC commits governments to “make primary education compulsory and available free to all.” Governments promised the funding to meet this goal, but most are not delivering.
YOU CAN HELP
Ask your government to live up to the commitments made in the CRC and provide funds and enact policies to help ensure that all countries provide free, compulsory and quality primary education for all children. Tell them that every child deserves a better future.
WAR IS NOT FOR CHILDREN--2002
You are Nine Years Old and Kill for a Living. You are one of an estimated 300,000 boys and girls under the age of 18 fighting in armed conflicts around the world.
In 2000, the UN adopted an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that prohibits forcibly recruiting children under 18, or allowing them to participate in armed conflicts. But child soldiers are still serving in more than 30 countries.
YOU CAN HELP
Urge your government to ensure that your nation uses all its economic and political influence to see that every government, including your own, signs, ratifies and fully enforces this Protocol. Tell them that every child deserves a better future.
Note: Since EarthAction began this campaign, an additional 49 countries have signed, and 61 countries have ratified this Protocol.
END CHILD LABOR—2003
You Work More Hours a Day Than Your Age. You are one of an estimated 250 million children working as child laborers worldwide. Because you are forced to work, you cannot go to school. Without an education, you’ll be trapped in a life of poverty. You’ll lose your childhood and your future. Child laborers lose their health, their lives, and at the very least, their precious childhood meant for playing, making friends, and learning.
YOU CAN HELP
Urge your national legislators to ensure that your government uses its influence to protect all children throughout the world from doing harmful, dangerous and exploitative work. Together we can end child labour.
Note: EarthAction pushed countries to sign and ratify the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 182 to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor. Following our campaign, this became the fastest treaty to be ratified in the ILO´s eighty-two year history. EarthAction’s campaign also called on governments to ratify and fully implement ILO Convention 138 which sets age limits for different types of work. Nineteen additional countries ratified this Convention following our campaign.
END VIOLENCE AGAINST STREET CHILDREN 2003
You are Seven and You are Not Safe. You are one of millions of children who live and work on the streets of the world’s cities. You ran away from home to escape violence. Now, on top of your daily struggle to survive, you have to contend with insults, beatings and sexual abuse, both on the streets and when you are frequently arrested and imprisoned.
YOU CAN HELP
Send the attached postcard to one of your national legislators. Urge him/her to ensure that your government does all it can to protect all children throughout the world from violence, including those who live and work on the street. Together we can end violence against street children.
Note: Our campaign called on governments to include street children—a group that had been excluded—in their global study of violence against children. Following our campaign, governments took action and the UN agreed include street children in this important global study.