Commission member and Professor of Law, Benyam Dawit Mezmur has been awarded the 2024 ‘Wear My Shoes Award’ for his global advocay and dedication to upholding children’s rights at the 6th Forum of the Global Network of Religions for Children.
The Forum is underway in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, drawing together 900 delegates, 60 nations and 80 religious communities, governmental and intergovernmental organizations around the urgent issue of the wellbeing of children in today’s world.
Organized by the Global Network of Religions for Children, the Forum coincides with the United Nations World Children’s Day and the Day of Prayer and Action for Children, this year on the theme, ‘The Child Is Calling: Interfaith Cooperation To Build A Hopeful World For Children’.
The three day event also marks 35 years of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the most important, legally binding agreement signed by almost 200 nations which outlines the fundamental rights of every child regardless of race religion or abilities.
Prof. Mexmur sits on the United Nation’s Committee on the Rights of the Child and is also a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. From the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Forum of the Global Network of Religions for Children, he shares the below reflection on the state of children’s rights today, and his conviction that if the CRC is to be sustainably implemented, international actors will need to bring the voice of religions back from the margins to the mainstream:
Should we celebrate the Convention on the Rights of the Child?
“November 20 is World Children’s Day but this year also marks the 35th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child- the instrument that former President Mandela described as “that luminous, living document that enshrines the rights of every child without exception, to a life of dignity and self-fulfillment”.
Those of us in the sector often brag about the fact that the Convention is the most widely and quickly ratified United Nations human rights instrument and that’s perfect. In the last 35 years, and maybe less so in the last five, it has actually managed to push the boundaries in different positive aspects – laws, policies, and programs, often leading to better conceptualization, resourcing, coordination, and even accountability for children’s rights.
But in a way, as things stand now in 2024, I am a bit disillusioned about what to celebrate, and if we should celebrate, how to celebrate it.
I ask myself, is a child born today better off than a child born 5 years ago in 2019? I look back at 2014, when we were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Convention and I try to gauge some of the progress, and then compare it to the last five years from 2019 up to now.
Ten years ago, there seemed to be a better trajectory and take to appreciate progress in many areas. However, despite my admiration for the CRC, my take of the last 5 years is mostly grim. And you know that it is very easy to blame COVID for almost every stagnation and regression, but that assessment is not always accurate. Let me elaborate.
Ten years ago, addressing equity was a central focus of the 25th anniversary stock taking exercise- so not just achieving universal ratification, but also work for universal implementation of the Convention, especially to make the right of the most disadvantaged and equal opportunity a central public priority; that there was hardly anything to celebrate in a world where 17,000 children die daily from preventable causes; that the way we measure progress using national statistical averages far too often masks the plight of far too many children- the children who are being left behind because of geography, discrimination, children living in communities torn by conflict or catastrophes etc.
The state of Children’s Rights in today’s World
I look at the state of children’s rights today and my take is an even more sad one. Don’t take it from me- you can just look at some of the numbers from highly reputable organizations like UNICEF, WFP, WHO, Children International etc.
Universal ratification of the Convention is yet to be achieved but more importantly, universal implementation is even more elusive; there are still 14,000 children that die daily from preventable causes; violence is still rampant (for example only 67 States ban corporal punishment in all settings) and national averages continue to inflate progress and mask those who fall between the cracks.
Today there are nearly 2.3 billion children around the world — or just under one-third of the global population- and from this some 400 million children are currently living in war zones or places experiencing violent conflict; UN estimates show 14,000 children die every day mostly of preventable causes- so in ten years we have reduced it only by 3000- and we have the know how to salvage these lives, and surely a world with an estimated economy of 86 trillion USD should be able to afford to save these lives.
Some reversals too are notable. For the first time in 20 years global child labour numbers are rising – and child poverty is increasing in many parts of the world; the current estimates put the number of children missing school at around 250 million, an increase of 6 million since 2021- and this is not only because of the situation in Afghanistan. If one looks at hunger, in 2023, the number of people that faced hunger was a staggering 733 million and global hunger levels have plateaued for three consecutive years and are worse than 5 years ago. This is an indictment on the international community as the world produces food that is enough to feed 9 billion people The Sustainable Development Goals relevant to eradicating all forms of malnutrition have probably never appeared more out of reach than now.
Also look at the question of nationality and nationhood – between four and 10 million individuals who do not have nationalities in a world with close to 200 states is a sad state of affairs. 60% of this population are actually estimated to be children. What happens in that space is that it’s like poverty- if you are born into a family that doesn’t have a nationality you become part of a generation that doesn’t have a nationality and it becomes like a cycle. In more than 10 countries you don’t get vaccination; in many other countries, you don’t get access to documents, access to education, you cannot travel freely… Some say it is because of conflict of laws -however research increasingly shows that it’s mainly because of decisions made by politicians to decide who belongs and who doesn’t. We can see a lot of discrimination, xenophobia and racism that’s happening in a lot of countries that excludes children from exercising their right to a nationality.
And without a doubt, a conversation about the CRC without talking about conflict would be overly incomplete. There are a reported 56 active conflicts in 2024, and 2023 was labelled “one of the most violent years since the end of the Cold War. The last five years have probably been the worst from a child’s point of view and the conceptualization as well as implementation of international humanitarian law has probably been challenged more in the last five years, than the previous 10+years. Let me also mention that the international community – and the major media houses are at the center of this- has become complicit in the creation of “forgotten emergencies” – such as the ones in Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan, DRC, Myanmar, Syria, Haiti…
We are operating in a world with so much “trust deficit” even vaccination rates have probably never been undermined in recent memory than the way they’ve been in the last five years- as a result we are dealing with a wave of vaccine hesitancy and a worrisome resurgence of measles in high- and low-income countries alike, including France, India and the Philippines.
And while I am on the topic of “trust deficit”, as Henrietta Fore, the former Executive Director of UNICEF put it – this might be the least trusting generation of citizens ever- because of “fake news”, and difficulty to know who and what to trust; which is further exacerbated by promises unfulfilled by adults.
So the core of my argument is that the CRC is still a solid document that should be taken seriously- and we have ahead of us the 35th anniversary of the Convention- but if the anniversary is just for States (and other stakeholders) to pat themselves on the back and feel good about themselves – it is not worth it. Celebrations are useful to reflect. They should help us look back and look forward and to recommend to what you plan to do in the short term, medium term and long-term. Otherwise, in doing celebrations for the sake of it- I think we are further exacerbating the trust deficit; and maybe we might even be paving the road to make the CRC from the “most widely ratified” to the “most widely violated” UN human rights instrument.
Religions as motivators for measurable change, bringing their voice back from the margins
The main reason why I am here [at the 6th CNRC Forum] is because I recognize the force for good that religious communities are and can continue to be for the realization of children’s rights in the world. I feel that the role that religious communities bring has increasingly been pushed to the margins of public discourse on the rights of the child. An increasingly wrong perception is that religious communities are just a group you tap into when you have Covid or an Ebola outbreak, or some other challenge, but there is a lot of force for good that actually comes from religious communities.
And the 2019 publication by Arigatou international on the role of the religions in children’s rights and how to religion plays a critical role to push the boundaries for the realization of children’s rights is very important and it is an eye-opener to actually appreciate how from the inception of the Convention up to now, the voice of religious communities in the drafting process, was important. Where the Convention says that a child should grow up in a state of love, happiness and understanding quite a lot of children grow up in a religious community. They are essential for education, for healthcare, for addressing corporal punishment, for addressing violence against children etc.
I often give my personal example- the experience I had when I started my child’s rights work with the Medical Missionaries of Mary two decades ago. And mind you that Ethiopia is not a “Catholic country”, but they were actually actively involved, among others, in washing the sick, caring for orphans, and giving the sick dignified death. The main reason why I am interested in the work done by Arigatou International and the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) as well as the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities is that we have to bring the role that religious communities play from the margins to the mainstream.”
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