Writing for Rights: Tenaaz, 17, Canada
For most of my life, I had never realised how tremendously fortunate I was. I was (and remain) immensely idealistic, one of those 'glass half full' types, always believing that the world is inherently good.
Children are brilliant, beautiful, talented and creative beings but are often disrespected.
My views did not change, but my understanding of the world did with a profound experience more than 10 years ago – a younger version of myself once sat in front of a television screen, flipping the channels and absent-mindedly landing on a news report on a conflict in Asia. While watching the news, I took in the knowledge that the thing called war I used to hear about was real, that the screams and the cries of the bloodied children that I was viewing were real, and that the actuality of the children and I having vastly contrasting lives was real. I was aware of what I was viewing in front of my very eyes but was not be able to completely register the meaning of all of it.
In Canada, going to school is the norm. Having access to health care is the norm. Feeling safe, secure and happy with oneself is the norm. The utter realisation that this norm was in fact not the norm for everyone was a bit of a confusing and saddening concept for me to fathom.
However disappointing of a thing it was for me to realise, though, it has given me the wisdom to realise that the world I saw through rose-tinted glasses was unfortunately not always the same world for others. This is a problem, yes. But every problem has a solution. The perfect world I had previously envisioned was not the world at that time, nor is it the world at present, but that is not to say that we cannot make it become the world in the future.
I am extremely grateful for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and for the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that monitors it and its implementation. I now know that it has been the governing body for the rights I exercise every day, like going to school, staying with my family, and feeling safe and secure with my life and my surroundings.
This knowledge is uplifting, but I am saddened that despite the CRC existing, injustice is still rampant in this world, and that the rights of children are often still violated. It is clear that the enforcement of my rights has helped me immeasurably to be a happier person, but for many children around the world, a lack of enforcement is crippling to their happiness and limiting to their potential.
I believe that it is tremendously important for everyone – ’Average Joes’ and world leaders alike – to see the value in a child's rights. Children are brilliant, beautiful, talented and creative beings but are often disrespected. I want there to be a universal epiphany: That children are incredible. That children are important. That children have rights, and that these rights should be recognised and respected.
Upon looking at the concluding observations of the CRC, I am still a bit concerned. Though there is more social conscientiousness, the lives of many are still impaired and jeopardised because children's rights are still not being taken seriously. I find it to be extremely imperative to close the gaps in the struggle to obtain human rights for children. That is not to say that I do not see reason for optimism.
Global change does not happen overnight, and there is evidence that the act of teaching children about their rights has improved their awareness of their own rights, making them more respectful of the rights of others, and has empowered them to make a change.
I personally am excited to see the change that every new day will bring, culminating into a future where everyone's rights are present and respected. The idealist in me – from the little girl watching the news in the past, to the 17-year-old writing this letter at present – is smiling.
Tenaaz, 17-years-old, Canada