Course Description

The world is a big place. And across the globe there are over 2 billion children under the age of 15 or nearly 30% of the world's population. (See 2005 Population Reference Bureau, World Population Data Sheet - http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/Content/ContentGroups/Datasheets/2005_World_Population_Data_Sheet.htm ). In 10, 15 or 20 years, these children will be adults bringing the experiences of their childhoods with them. What is happening to these children now? How many are suffering and experiencing various forms of violence with which they must cope? How will this affect the world in years to come?

In an effort to enhance the chances that today's children will be thoughtful adults who can bring positive life experiences to the next generation's children, the world community, through the United Nations in 1989 passed the UNITED NATION CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, (CRC) http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm  a document that provides the world with a blueprint for both minimizing the harms that we inflict on children through violence and various forms of exploitation and maximizing the supports that our various communities can give to children. This document recognizes the importance of eliminating the traumas that we adults inflict on children and the need to provide children with nurturing and support if we are to build communities that support and enhance human dignity of all people. The CRC shows that the world knows what to do, if only we can find the will to do it.

Though all countries in the world, except the US and Somalia, have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is a great deal that needs to be done to bring these rights to fruition. Implementation of the convention is a difficult task. Progress in implementing the CRC is monitored by the office of the HIGH COMMISSIONER ON HUMAN RIGHTS that publishes reports relating to what each country is doing with regard to implementation.

(Link to Country Reports: http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf.)

In spite of the UN Convention, children across the globe still face a great deal of exploitation and violence both in their families and in their communities. They still are seen as property. Children still face sexual and economic exploitation. In many countries, cultural values and traditions, economic conditions, political and ethnic violence, globalization and social change processes are impeding the implementation process of children's rights.

Concern for the impact of violence on children is so great that in 2001 the United Nations called for a GLOBAL STUDY OF VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD OF CHILDREN http://www.violencestudy.org/r25. This study will be very useful for us as we proceed throughout the semester. There is much interest in this work. The Children's Rights Information network is coordinating the work of what is called 'civil society' or non-governmental organizations (NGO's) that work with and on behalf of children and are involved in the UN Study. http://www.crin.org/violence/.

Because children in all countries are not allowed to vote, because children in all countries are heavily dependent on adults to make decisions and build social infrastructures to support children and because children learn from the way they experience the world adults create, it is important that we explore the worlds of these 2 billion children and began to think about how they are treated and supported. This will allow us to develop some ideas about what the world will look like in 15 - 20 years.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL places children's rights at the nexus of state, family and community responsibility. These connections demand new strategies for research and action. AI is taking its first steps in this direction, with a series of pilot projects exploring different areas of state responsibility for private abuses, and hopes to move further in a way that will complement the efforts of other NGOs and organizations working in the field of children's human rights. [From Amnesty International Website on Human Rights and Children: http://www.amnestyusa.org/children/document.do?id=B0275B42F3B4C25380256900006933EF

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH is another group that monitors and reports on issues concerned with human rights of children around the world. http://www.hrw.org/children/.

SAVE THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL is another organization that works to study and provide information and support children in many international contexts. http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/index.html. (Go to their resources and documents page to find much relevant information.

Another Group working internationally to document and remove violence from the world of children is the GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO END CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/.

UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre provides a wealth of information related to children's rights and various aspects of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. http://www.unicef-icdc.org/ UNICEF also has a website devoted to issues and research related to human trafficking. http://www.childtrafficking.org/. You can register at the site and get an id and password. Then you can use the research database of the site. Here is another UNICEF site related to Child Labor issues: http://www.ucw-project.org/index.html.

Finally, with regard to trafficking of children, ECPAT International: http://www.ecpat.net/eng/index.asp and ECPAT-USA http://ecpatusa.org/index.asp provide much useful material.

Key contexts for exploring the place of violence in the world of children that cut across all of these groups that utilize a human rights perspective to focus attention on the ways children are harmed and exploited in the nexus of state, family and community responsibility are the following:

Street Children

Children and the Sex Slave trade

Human Trafficking in Children

Child Soldiers

Children as Victims in War

Sexual Abuse and Rape

Emotional Abuse

Physical / Corporal Punishment

Child Refugees

Child Labor

Children and Torture

Children and Pornography

Children in Justice System