VIDEOS ON CHILD’S RIGHTS

"I Wish"

"I Am"

			"I Want To Be Cared For"
"I Want To Play"		"I Want To Learn"

Inter-American Children's Institute

Specialized Organization of the OAS

September 2004

1. Introduction

As part of its activities in the area of information and communications, the Inter-American Children's Institute has developed 7 videos in cooperation with the Latin American Network (RAL):

1. “I Wish”: A video on children’s rights in general. Duration: 1 minute 40 seconds.

2. “I Am”: A video on the right to an identity. Duration: 1 minute.

3. “I Participate”: A video on the right to participation. Duration: 1 minute 6 seconds.

4. “It’s My Family”: A video on the right to a family. Duration: 1 minute 13 seconds.

5. “I Want To Be Cared For”: A video on the right to protection against abuse. Duration: 1 minute 13 seconds.

6. “I Want To Play”: A video on the right to play. Duration: 1 minute 15 seconds.

7. “I Want to Learn”: A Video on the right to education. Duration: 1 minute 22 seconds.

These seven videos are being broadcast in most of the countries in the region on open-access television and on some child-oriented cable channels. Our video development strategy is aimed at creating an educational kit on children’s rights, incorporating recreational aspects of knowledge and creativity, to be inserted into the organizational structure of the countries of the region on a mass scale.

We seek to publicize and promote the Convention on the Rights of the Child,[1] adopted on November 20, 1989 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Convention is the first specific legal instrument to address children’s issues, in which children are treated as subjects of rights.

The Convention is a milestone in the history of humanity, as it opens doors for a new law, a reformulation of the social contract, in which children are active subjects. It transforms needs into rights, intently focusing on the issue of the legal and political-social enforceability of rights.[2] The Convention takes into account the cultural, social, economic and political realities of each country, so that each can choose its own means to apply the rights that are common to everyone.

The text of the Convention enshrines four general principles, which figure particularly in articles 2, 3, 6 and 12:

· Non-discrimination (art. 2);

· The best interest of the child (art. 3);

· The right to life, survival and development (art. 6);

· The child’s own views (art. 12).

The UN General Assembly’s unanimous adoption of the Convention led to the next stage: its ratification by the countries and the creation of a monitoring committee.

By late 1990, the Convention on the Rights of the Child had been ratified by 57 countries, which became States Parties to the Convention.

Classification of the Rights of the Child[3]

List of Rights Associated Articles of the Convention

1) Right to life 2) Right to identity 3) Right to family 4) Right to education 5) Right to health 6) Right to equality 7) Right to participation, freedom of expression and information 8) Right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and own culture and language 9) Right to play and recreation 10) Right of children and adolescents to receive special care in the case of disability 11) Right to integral protection against abuse and commercial sexual exploitation 12) Right to integral protection against illegal transfer or abduction of children and adolescents 13) Right to integral protection against economic exploitation and dangerous work 14) Right to integral protection against use of drugs and associated exploitation 15) Right to integral protection against sale and trafficking of children and adolescents 16) Right to integral protection against mistreatment, abuse and all forms of exploitation 17) Right to integral protection against participation of children and adolescents in armed conflict 18) Right to integral protection against deprivation of liberty 19) Right to integral protection of refugee or displaced children and adolescents 20) Right to integral protection of children and adolescents deprived of their parents 21) Right to protection of children’s and adolescents' private life 22) Right of children and adolescents to live in a healthy environment 23) Right of children and adolescents to protection against torture and cruel treatment or punishment

6 7, 8 5, 8, 10,18 28, 29 24, 25,26,27 2 12, 13,15,17 14, 30 31 23, 26 34, 39 11 32, 39 33, 39 35 19, 36,39 38, 39 3, 37, 40 22 3,9, 20, 21,39 16, 40 24, 27, 29 37, 39

1. “I Wish”

Target Audience

“I Wish” is aimed at all of the children in the region, seeking to generate a communication strategy that highlights the importance of knowing, exercising and enforcing respect for the rights of every child and adolescent.

Contents

The “I Wish” video promotes the Rights of the Child, aiming to raise public awareness about their importance, and about the need for society as a whole to work together to ensure that “all the kids in the world (…) have a place.”

The video’s lyrics directly mention the following children’s rights:

· Right to participation;

· Right to freedom of expression and information;

· Right to an identity;

· Right to be protected against abuse;

· Right to an education;

· Right to recreational, cultural and other activities.

We seek to encourage children and young people to find out about their rights and to exercise and enforce them. It is important that they participate actively in all matters involving them, and that they be heard.

Their views must be taken into consideration and respected. As the song says, children have the right to be listened to when they talk and not made to cry.

The support of society as a whole is necessary in order for these rights to be valid and respected. Governments, international organizations and civil society must work together for children and young people.

Thus: “Let’s all make sure we help / All the kids in the world / To have a place for them too.”

Scope of children’s right to express their views and to be heard

Analyzing the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, we find that articles 12 and 13 refer to children's right to have their own views, to express themselves and to be heard.

According to articles 12.1 and 12.2, each child has the “right to express [his or her] views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child” and “the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative….”

Regarding freedom of expression, article 13.1 states that “this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers.…”

Furthermore, article 14.1 states that “States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”

We should note that these articles reveal the innovative character of the Convention: up to that moment, children's autonomy and subjectivity had never been recognized.

The exercise of the right to participation and opinion must involve society as a whole – adults as well as children. A child is not an isolated being, and must be involved in the construction of the regulations that will govern his or her participation.

How will a child who is becoming a young person be able to learn the principles of his or her rights and responsibilities as a citizen if, before fully enjoying them, he or she cannot be trained to use them well?[4]

The role of education in the construction of citizenship

When addressing the subject of citizenship as regards education, the following question arises: what role does school play in its construction?

School is one of the fundamental environments for the construction of childhood and citizenship, and as such, it is necessary. However, it is not, of itself, sufficient for educating a citizen in a context of rights and responsibilities.

For this reason, any strategy aimed at promoting children’s exercise of their rights must focus on the family and school.

Over time, the way of thinking about the education process has varied, along with the concept of citizenship.

Education is always at the service of a specific type of citizenship. When the educational objectives, contents, methodologies and criteria of each program are selected, a certain educational plan is being chosen, which is closely related to a certain concept of citizenship.

It is important for more and more schools to place citizenship at the center of educational activity, teaching children how to get along in the world that is closest and most familiar to them (school, class, neighborhood, etc.). One of the ways of putting this into practice is through the development of student councils[5] that participate actively in school planning.

Children must become agents within the school community and assume their responsibilities in accordance with their abilities: accepted and integrated in the society of the classroom, children grow up learning to accept and respect the rules of life in society.[6]

Lyrics: “I Wish”

I want everyone to love me
I want to have a name
I want to be taken care of
If I’m sick or if I’m sad
Because I want to grow

I want to know everything
I want somebody to teach me,
My family and my teacher,
To count and to spell too
And I want to have fun

To play, to sing
And to teach me to be free and to tell me the truth

To play, to sing
And to listen when I talk and not
make me cry

But I also wish too
That all the kids of the world
Would have everything I wish
Because I want to share it too

To play, to sing
All of us kids in the world deserve a place

Let’s all sing together
For all the kids in the world to have
a place for them too (for everyone?)

Let’s all make sure we help
All the kids in the world
To have a place for them too (for everyone?)

Production: “I Wish”

Credits:

Director Walter Tournier

Producer Carl McMullin

Animators Pablo Turcatti

Roberto González

Camera and Computer Diego Mera

Puppet Artist Lala Severi

Structures Martín Da Rossa

Models Javier Tournier

Diego Vidal

Lighting Santiago Epstein

Diego Velazco

Lyrics Leonardo Croatto

Music Leonardo Croatto

Singer Ruben Rada

Editing Guillermo Casanova

Administration Silvana Montoli

Assistant Daniel McMullin

Acknowledgements Magela Richeri

2. “I Am”

Target Audience

“I Am” is aimed at mothers in the region who are in a situation of risk. With this communication strategy, poor families and ethnic minorities are the target populations for this message.

We have also sought to reach all mothers and future mothers, to raise awareness about the importance of obtaining a birth certificate for each newborn child.

As the video is aimed at a diversity of ethnicities and cultures, it was necessary to generate a product in line with the different realities of each country of the region. To achieve this, we used articulated puppets to represent the action in the video, as a way of “depersonalizing” the actors so that the video can be interpreted by each viewer according to his or her local patterns.

Contents

The Birth Registry: The Fundamental Pillar for the Materialization of the Right to an Identity

“I Am”… Juan, María, Pedro…. Each and every person should be brought into the world with their real identity, as they “really are,” their “real self.” A name is one of the fundamental characteristics of the identification of a person’s individuality. Nevertheless, more than one million births go unregistered each year in the region.[7] In society, there is a general lack of knowledge about the importance of obtaining a birth certificate for newborn children.

Failure to register children at birth occurs for various reasons:

· Economic: Many families cannot pay for the certificate, the fines for late registration, or the expenses involved in travelling from rural areas to the Civil Registry Office (generally located in urban areas).

· Political: Ethnic or religious minorities, immigrants and refugees are often excluded from birth registration systems. Registration laws and policies are often obsolete, inadequate and even occasionally discriminatory against certain groups.

· Cultural: Parents and the community in general are not aware of the importance and benefits of birth registration. Often, girl children are not registered due to gender discrimination.

· Technical: In many countries, Civil Registration offices do not have sufficient financial, material or human resources; they do not provide the necessary coverage; and their personnel in charge do not have the skills required to provide a good service.

Without birth registration, a child has no identity, name or nationality, and thus is not considered a citizen of the country.

Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that all children have the right to a name from birth; they have the right to be recognized by others as having their own, unmistakable identity. The Birth Registration is the document that fully formalizes the right to a name and a nationality, and is also the instrument that forms the basis for the exercise of citizenship.

Without birth registration, there is no chance of exercising and enforcing rights. And without the exercise and enforcement of rights, there is no chance for development of citizenship. And without full exercise of citizenship, we cannot think in terms of democracy.[8]

The right to an identity constitutes the “existential interest of each person in not seeing the external or social projection of his or her personality upset, denaturalized, or denied. (…) It means that the essential cultural patrimony of the individual, made up by a multiplicity of varied aspects – such as, inter alia, identity of origin, family identity, and intellectual, political, religious, social and professional identity of each person – is not to be argued, distorted, cut short, or denied….”[9] Identity is an entire complex which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, law, customs and all other habits and skills acquired by a human being as a member of society.