Universal Children's Day is a crucial day in the promotion of worldwide fraternity and understanding between young people. And yet for almost 50 years in the UK it has passed by without the recognition it deserves.
James Michael, 16 and Natasha Reddy, 15 report on an event which very few people in this country would have known about because we are one of the few countries in the world, which does not celebrate it.
The day was created by the United Nations in 1954 with a recommendation that it be observed by all countries to promote the welfare of the world's children. In 1959 it was also the day that the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and then the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
Considering the aims of the day, it seems utterly bizarre that our government refuses to officially establish or promote the day. Shouldn't we be encouraged, like other young people all around the world, to look upon the day as a time set aside specifically to celebrate and promote our rights, rather than seeing it as just another date in the calendar?
When the Children's Minister, Margaret Hodge, was asked this very question, she defended the UK's decision by saying:
"The creation of the post of Minister for Children… the pulling together of DFES and the publication of the green paper, 'Every Child Matters' are likely to be of greater value to children and young people than Universal Children's Day."
The actions taken by government, which Mrs Hodge refers to, such as the green paper are supposedly going to clear up any doubts we as young people have over our own rights. But recently we carried out a survey of 50 secondary school pupils in North London and asked them whether or not they knew what the green paper was.
A shocking 95 percent claim of them had never heard of it, whilst four percent said that they had found out about the green paper through their own research on the internet, using search engines but say that there had been no school initiative to show them where they might have found information on children's rights.
If these findings are anything to go by, young people are not well informed about the paper at all. So it seems likely that very few of us know that the paper is the government's vision of improving the lives of all children living in the UK.
When the paper was presented to parliament in September this year, the Secretary for Education and Skills, Charles Clarke, said:
"The legislation and institutional change that we are proposing will genuinely put children first…our aim is to build a society in which truly every child matters."
But for us the problem with the green paper is its focus. If it is to achieve all that the government says it's going to achieve, then they must first educate young people about it.
It doesn't seem that they've made a lot of effort to publicise it. One government spokesperson, claimed that they'd gone out of their way to make sure people know about it through the press but personally we have seen very little evidence of it. Of course, this could largely be down to how much or how little the media has chosen to cover it and if you ask us, it is definitely a case of them choosing the latter. Still, the media is not entirely to blame. The government should have made a much bigger fuss over it, then that way the media would have been forced to pay attention.
Another problem with the paper is the wide age group it is directed at. The Internet provides two separate versions, one for 'adults' and another for 'children,' both of which can be downloaded.
This is fine if you fit into either of these categories, but if you're in your mid teens, there is no version for you. The children's one just comes across has highly patronising and to read the adults version, you need lots of patience. We reckon some adults would even have trouble with it. So perhaps the government should have thought about producing two copies for young people - one directed at younger children and the other at those in their mid teens, like us. That way we'd all have a paper that suited our interests. The Government has also failed in their attempts to reach communities with lower incomes because those who cannot afford access to the Internet do not find it as easy as those who do, to get a hold of the paper. We don't think it's acceptable for them to assume that everyone now has the Internet at home.
Given that very few young people share the government's enthusiasm for their proposals simply because they do not know about them, we find their refusal to join other UN nations in officially recognising Universal Children's Day quite bizarre!
We did try very hard to get someone within the government to comment on why the UK seems so intent on ignoring such an important day and despite a promise from one government official to phone back, no-one had the had the decency to answer our question.
This response just raises more questions than answers. Is Britain, like the USA, trying to pull away from the UN's directive? After ignoring the UN command not to go to war with Iraq, is our Government planning to leave the UN?
Perhaps these are rather radical views but it is strange that the UK would refuse to acknowledge a day, which aims to recognise the needs of children across the globe and not just from its own nation. If the Government were to join others in celebrating the day, they'd be more likely to uphold the values of 'Every Child Matters', and as Mr Clarke told parliament "build a society in which protection is embedded in all communities, professionals and services, locally and nationally."
In other words the introduction of Universal Children's Day in Britain could only help their plight. It would certainly go a long way in helping young people take pride in their country and in the fact that they are supporting a day designated to them.
It is us who will eventually influence the way our country moves forward so isn't it time that we were offered all that we can be offered to fully understand exactly what our rights as young people are?
About the teamThis story was produced by James Michael, 16 and Natasha Reddy, 15. It was published by Reach for the Sky Website.
