Affirming Rights for Children and
Youth
by Marianne Davis
In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it says that abuse of another human being is wrong, whether you’re an adult or a child. So why are there so many people, young and old, still being hurt?
On this particular issue I speak from personal experience. I myself was abused in more than one way. For quite some time, I was neglected, abused emotionally, verbally, physically and worst of all, sexually. For a long time I felt I was pushed to the end of my mother’s list of priorities. This especially hurt me in the long run. Some people believe that children don’t have the same rights as adults, but in fact we do.
Let’s just imagine a woman in her early thirties. She’s in an abusive relationship (her lover beats her). Now all of her friends would be telling her that she deserves better, and that she doesn’t have to put up with the wrath of her boyfriend’s bad day. Eventually she sees that her friends are right and she gets out of the situation, broken-hearted, but she’s alive.
Now why can’t it be the same for minors? For those of you who think it is, you’re wrong. When children are abused, in a lot of cases it is not dealt with as it should be. We must all remember that these kids are probably terrified beyond their comprehension. They are afraid that they might be betraying their loved one. They feel that they deserve the pain that they have endured, or that they have been abused to the point that they have become completely numb to the abuse that has been inflicted upon them. If you ask me, that last possibility happens more than anyone knows. Speaking from my own life, I was numb for months and it is something I wouldn’t wish on my greatest rival.
Article five of the UDHR states, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment." It doesn’t say a thing about minors being excluded. In reading this right, I was reminded of a caning that occurred just a few years ago in Singapore. I recall that an American boy was publicly caned as punishment for getting intoxicated and causing damage to public property. Yes, what that boy did was wrong, but does that really give anyone the right to beat that boy, who was not even native to that country, in front of hundreds of people? This not only hurt the boy physically, but stripped him of his pride. In my personal opinion, I think that this boy should have paid for the damage he did with his own pennies, then have been directly returned to his homeland. This caning violated his rights as a human being.
As for children not having the same rights as adults, we do! I can’t stress that enough. All of us who have been or are being abused need to stand together and be strong in the fight to stop this from continuing. There is a separate document that applies especially to young people (The Convention on the Rights of the Child), but the UDHR also applies to us! In Article 25 it states, "Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection." See, we have the right to be protected, but we are still not. I seriously believe that these rights should be strongly enforced.
In conclusion, I would just like to say that before my teacher brought me a copy of the UDHR, I had no idea that these rights existed and that they applied to me as much as anyone else. I am enraged that no one told me of these rights, particularly my past teachers. I sincerely hope that people will read this and I pray that one day all of our youth will be made aware that they are entitled to the same rights as adults.
Marianne Davis is a student at the Area Learning Center Creative Arts School in St. Paul, Minnesota.
