“Each of us must come to care about everyone else’s children. We must recognize that the welfare of our children is intimately linked to the welfare of all other people’s children. After all, when one of our children needs life-saving surgery, someone else’s child will perform it. If one of our children is harmed by violence, someone else’s child will be responsible for the violent act. The good life for our own children can be secured only if a good life is also secured for all other people’s children.”
- Dr. Lilian G. Katz, professor of early childhood education.

Caring for one other than our own selves is the true meaning of life, and when one learns to care for those children who do not belong to us, whom we may never see…those children who suffer from afar, then only then can we be sure that our own children will see more prosperous and valuable life. It when we begin to learn that we are all connected and we are all one universal family that we can begin to find peace, hope and prosperity for all of mankind.

For the child who suffers now of hunger and preventable diseases, could be a future doctor, or researcher who finds the cure for AIDs, but if we care not about his, or her, wellbeing then they future may not be theirs, and the loss will be ours. The child soldier who fights today will hopefully one day become an adult and the future can go in many directions, they could be the future rebel leader, or the future leader for peace, much depends on how we see that child today and what we as an international community invest in the future. The little girl on the street with sad eyes that you look right past may be a teacher or a lawyer, or she may remain standing right there on the streets with hollow eyes, much of her future lies in how you see her. Do you see a prostitute or do you see a child victimized by sexual exploitation crying out for help?

How we see the children of today effects their future, what we do to help them effects not only theirs, but that of our entire global community. Look not with a blind eye at the child on the street, look not past a mothers pleas for her child’s future, but look into yourself and see what you can do. It is not just money and time that will ease the burden for children in need and their families, but also a shift in our attitudes; no longer can we continue to say, “It’s not my problem”, “It’s not my child”, we must learn to say “What can I do?”, “How can I help?”!

“I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our devoted attention, not our divided attention.”
- Kenny Guinn (American educator, businessman and two-term Governor of Nevada from 1999-2007)

Children do deserve our undivided and devoted attention, however we continue to fail our children as we continue to provide inadequate protection and services to those children who are abused and neglected.  Children’s rights are not just a battle to be won internationally, children’s rights is a battle that continues to be fought daily on our streets, in our schools and in our homes.

For more on child abuse and the strained welfare system in the US and what you can do to Reducing child abuse and neglect here at home, please see the following article I posted on the DC Human Rights Examiner.

The FPA Children’s blog is looking for kids views on today’s human rights issues, such as; peace, war, poverty, education, etc.

Every Friday we post a “notable quotes about children” piece in which a quote is posted by a notable activist, politician, historical or literary figure, however we would like
If you are a teacher or parent, or even a child or teen, and would like to share your children’s views on current events then we want to hear from you!

This is a great class project and the perfect way to illustrate to children what their rights are, by giving them freedom of speech.

Children are encourage to send in a photo or drawing to go with their view, of which it is not necessary that the photo be of the child themselves. No full names of the child will be placed online, nor will the locations of the child will be given unless authorized.

Sample questions and topics could include:

• Why is war bad? Why?
• Is it wrong for kids to not be allowed to go to school? Why?
• How do you think the world can find peace?
• What would you do to help end hunger and poverty? Is it wrong for people to buy another person? Why?
• Do you think people should be forced to work? Why not?

Thank you, we look forward to hearing from you!

Please e-mail Cassandra at  cassandra.clifford at gmail.com if you have a child’s quote to contribute or have any questions or concerns.

“There is a ‘’sanctity” involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it.” -  James Baldwin (1924-1987) African-American writer.

So often we take for granted the power and fragility of life, for the power and miracle of birth is often quickly overshadowed by the power of destruction and hate.  A life incubated and joyfully anticipated for nine months can be taken in a rage of destruction lasting less than nine seconds.  For a child is a mere beginning to life, and when war and conflict, take the innocence of youth, they take not only a life, but the future of a country.  Let not the level of peace and happiness in childbirth, continue to be overshadowed by the death of countless innocent lives and futures yet to be seen.

“Ah! what would the world be to us If the children were no more? We should dread the desert behind us Worse than the dark before.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) U.S. poet.

Children hold the world in their hands, but what kind of world do they hold? The world, in which children are given for their future, is that in which we create. A child’s destiny is often nothing more than the legacy of the past. Children around the world are being left in the shadows of war and conflict, hindered by poverty and a lack of education. Sexual violence and gender inequality continues to follow them through the decades, for which they then pass on to their children.

Sadly, in giving children a world of nothing more than hate and destruction, we rob them of their childhood. The freedom that comes with innocence is lost; childhood laughter and the simplicity of games are no longer a daily function, all of which leaves nations of children with little self worth. The loss of these basic rights leaves children without a sense of positive empowerment, and thus we face the fear of living in a world without children.

“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” - Jimmy Carter

Those who suffer disproportionately from all violent conflicts are women and children.  War not only kills children with its bombs and guns, but as conflicts drag on for years and decades, children suffer even more from from malnutrition and disease.  Peace is often ruined or halted by the death of a child, as too often the harsh reality of war leaves many fighting at the cost of a child for a child.

I recently heard someone say in reference to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), “What kind of society does not protect its women and children…this is no society at all.”. What future is there for children who grows up and the only thing they have seen is violence and destruction, what future has been shaped for them, what has been left for them?  Violence breeds violence, and especially in a age where children have witnessed the extreme nature of sexual violence, where the most violent of rapes are the plague of the majority of women and girls, where children breed from war and their mothers are shunned, what future do they see when there is no examples of peace for most of them to witness.  The effects  of war and violence are far reaching, and last long into the future, for it is hard for the future leaders of a country to build a lasting peace when they have yet to witness peace, and thus the burden of war once again falls upon the children.

Children’s mouths speak the truth. -Chinese proverb.

Listen to the words that come out of the mouths of babes and you will hear the truth.  Just ask any parent who has shuddered in horror as their child asks an overweight person if they are pregnant, or just yelled “mommy, that guy is fat”.

When I asked 7 year old Justin, if children should go to war?, he turned and looked at me shockingly and said, “No, they would die!”. I then asked him if he knew that there are some kids that are sold like the things you buy in the store and then people force them to work? , Justin had no response his little eyes just looked at me in shock and dismay, there brightness had quickly faded and he just looked confused.  After some time he said to me, “but only adults are supposed to work, its wrong and they are bad people they should get in trouble”.

Justin is right, they are wrong and they should get in trouble, however the sad reality is that some 27 million men, women and children are victims of modern slavery, and impunity continues to aid in the fueling of this plague against the most innocent and marginalized in out society.  Children are forces to kill and rape as child soldiers, forced to work in harsh and dangerous conditions, malnourished, denied education, verbally, physically and sexually abused, children are used as disposable tools, as cheap commodities, which serve only to feed the greed and line the pockets of those who prey on their innocence.

When will we see an end to the continual violation of children’s rights across the globe? Maybe when we all begin to see the world through the eye’s of a child and speak quickly and earnestly when we see the violations the are so often right before our very eyes.

“Children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death.”
- Erik Homburger Erikson (June 15, 1902 – May 12, 1994) was a Danish-German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social development of human beings.

Children learn every aspect of life from their elders, including how to live and how to die with integrity. Integrity according to Websters is:

1) firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: incorruptibility
2) an unimpaired condition : soundness
3) the quality or state of being complete or undivided: completeness

The secret to living a life without fear is to have nothing to fear, and if one lives a life which is honest, morally deeply rooted, is unswayed by the negative opinions of other and lived to its fullest, then one has nothing to fear in life, nor death.  When one leads a life of integrity, then there is nothing to fear in death, thus when one teaches a child how to die with integrity they inadvertently teach them how to live with integrity.  Teaching our children by example will not lead only to one who is at peace in life and death, but to a free society were fear is an unnecessary objected that only serves to impede peace and prosperity.

Our children are our only hope for the future, but we are their only hope for their present and their future. -Zig Ziglar

The hope for the future truly lies in our hands, as we shape and mold the world around them, we enable the worlds children to thrive. Life is fragile and delicate, we have the power to protect and we have the power to harm, the choice is ours, the difference is hope and prosperity or conflict and poverty.

“When the lives and the rights of children are at stake, there must be no silent witnesses.”- Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 1995-2004

We can no longer stand by in silence and turn a blind eye to the plight of children around the world who suffer needlessly from abuse, war, poverty, disease…their rights discarded, their voices falling upon deaf ears.

Baring witness and taking action to eliminate the crimes against children and ensure that their voices are never silenced is the key to bringing peace and prosperity. While governments around the globe must ensure that the right of every child are ensured and protected, every voice matters and each time one speaks out for the rights of the child, we are one step closer to seeing that their futures are safeguarded.