Children learn about own rights

The first course to be held in Malta with the aim of informing children and young people about their rights kicked off yesterday.

The course, organised by the Commissioner for Children, brought together just under 70 children from all over Malta and Gozo who will be spending a whole weekend together.

Although most of the children did not know each other before, they soon broke the ice with a treasure hunt a mere 30 minutes into the course. Today the children are expected to hit beaches around the island and survey other children in line with a questionnaire which they will prepare themselves in the morning.

Tomorrow the children will elect their representatives for the Council for Children.

Speaking during the opening of the course, Children's Commissioner Sonia Camilleri stressed that human rights are universal and it is important that the promotion and protection of the human rights of children are given priority in Malta.

"One of my primary functions as commissioner is both to voice your wishes at different levels and to help you voice your own wishes," she said.

Mrs Camilleri, who has held the office of commissioner for the past one and a half years, said it is in the children's and young people's interest to know what their rights are.

"It is important for us all to know what our rights are, rights which no one can take away from us. And together with these rights, we all have responsibilities towards ourselves and each other," she added.

The commissioner said this approach was within the ambit of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adding that this was a vision for a better world for all.

"Children's rights are also a key to understanding and promoting empathy and solidarity with others. Thus we move from being aware that you, children and young people, have 'rights' to the notion that others have rights too and that in order to live embracing children's rights, respect and responsibility has to be exercised with others, by each and every one of us," she told the children. Present for the course was Simone Ek, a senior advisor for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ms Ek told the children that the convention was a landmark in the struggle for the rights of the child. "It was a triumph for the world's children to be regarded as individuals with their own right, recognised by the international community," she said.

Ms Ek said a new attitude towards children was growing and was being accepted. She said more than any earlier international agreement, the convention also recognised children as human beings of equal value, stressing that children should be listened to.

"It marks the end of the age-old idea that children, at least in legal terms, are possessions of their guardians. At the same time it recognises children as children," she said, adding that the importance of a happy childhood was accepted.

The convention, Ms Ek said, holds society legally accountable for meeting the obligations that give meaning to children's rights, making governments responsible. A total of 192 states, including Malta, are parties to the convention.