The Wesleyan Influence on the Rights of Children

I just discovered that many consider the Methodist Wesleyan, Hannah More (contemporary of John Wesley, William Wilberforce and Robert Raikes), one of the modern founders of Sunday School), to be the first person recorded on speaking about the rights of children and youth:

"The rights of man have been discussed till we are somewhat wearied with the discussion... To these have been opposed, as the next stage in the process of illumination, the rights of women. It follows, according to the natural progression of human things, that the next influx of that irradiation which our enlighteners are pouring in upon us, will illuminate the world with grave descants on the rights of youth, the rights of children, and the rights of babies." 

Hannah More quoted in Steven J. Novak, The Rights of Youth: American Colleges and Student Revolt, 1798-1815. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977.

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000

Here is a fact sheet based on this Act.

I am happy to say that The Salvation Army has endorsed this act. Here's a quote from our US National website:

The Salvation Army (TSA) endorsed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a law which passed the U.S. Congress in October of 2000. TSA was among a coalition of faith-based and other organizations which worked zealously to obtain its passage. TSA's role in the effort to pass TVPA has been highlighted in the book Freeing God's Children by Dr. Allen Hertzke.

The Salvation Army has also taken a strong, leadership position, along with other allied groups and individuals, in efforts to shift U.S. policy on sexual trafficking.

This includes:

• maintaining the link between sexual trafficking and prostitution;
• emphasizing strategies that reduce demand;
• emphasizing the link between sexual trafficking and HIV/AIDS;
• opposing efforts to legalize prostitution in the U.S. and abroad;
• affirming a "report and rescue" strategy in humanitarian efforts to assist women and children in brothels;
• support for the End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act of 2005;
• support for a sufficiently strong Reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2005.

In regard to these issues, TSA has participated in and initiated letters to prominent political and faith leaders outlining numerous policy concerns and appealing for their help. These efforts are meeting with success, as illustrated by a National Security Presidential Directive linking sexual trafficking and prostitution issued by President George W. Bush, a new policy announced by the U.S. Agency for International Development which rules that nongovernmental organizations that support legalized prostitution are not eligible for federal anti-trafficking funds, as well as increased attention to human trafficking pledged by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Work is also underway on an internal Salvation Army position statement on human trafficking.

Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child

For those who are interested (and the Railton students), here is the "Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child."

Stop the Traffik - Promotional Videos

Friends, these are some amazing commercials that "Stop the Traffik" have put together to help address the injustice of Human Trafficking. Paul and Kirsten Mergard (from The Salvation Army in Austrailia) just sent these to me.

Please do all you can to help raise awareness of what's happening with modern-day, child slavery. Check out Stop the Traffik.

Check them out on YouTube:

The Future of Children: A Report on the State of Children in Poverty in Post-Katrina America

Here's an interesting report from "The Future of Children" on the state of child poverty in America after Hurricane Katrina.

Free Indeed: The Modern Church's Opportunity to End Slavery, Again

Free Indeed: The Modern Church's Opportunity to End Slavery, Again
Click on this link for a wonderful document on the church's responsibility related to the child slavery movement.

It states, "The transnational nature of the church is perfectly suited for the global engagement of this issue from the grass roots to the world stage. It also has access to vast economic and human resources and is able to mobilize extensive networks to affect government policies and social programs."

Anti-Slavery International

Friends,

I have been so deeply moved by the issue of child slavery - that I will do all in my power to raise awareness of this issue. Please take a look at the organization called "Free the Slaves." [Also known as Anti-Slavery International]

It is the coalition that "Stop the Traffik" is a part of.

Free the Slaves works to end slavery by:

1. Supporting grassroots anti-slavery organizations around the world who are literally kicking down doors, freeing slaves and helping them rebuild their lives; we provide funding and technical assistance and enable local movements to learn from each other.

2. Conducting social science-based research on the nature and scope of modern slavery in order to formulate targeted ways to combat it.

3. Increasing awareness of contemporary slavery to empower Americans and others to help. We utilize a video library, web site, educational materials for schools and community groups, and public presentations to engage thousands of people in the anti-slavery movement each year.

4. Working with businesses, labor unions, human rights and consumer organizations to eradicate slavery from product supply chains and building a consumer movement that chooses slave-free goods.

5. Working with governments to enforce effective anti-slavery and anti-trafficking laws, and where necessary, help create improved laws.

Mapping Out Modern Slavery

Videos on Ending Slavery

Important Research on Slavery

A World Fit for Childen - UN General Assembly Document

A World Fit for Children is a seminal document that continues to help us take steps towards protecting the rights on children. There is going to be a special session taking place on December 11 & 12, 2007 at the United Nations.

Please join me in praying that positive steps will be taken for us, as global citizens, towards protecting the rights of children.

More than 700 000 children are uninsured in America in 2006

Children's Defense Fund just reported this week that new census statistics show that more than 700 000 children have been uninsured in America in 2006.

Marian Wright Edelman of CDF states:

"It is a national disgrace that in just two years, the number of uninsured children has increased by a million in the richest nation on earth... This alarming jump demonstrates that our children need a strong national safety net so that every child has access to the health coverage needed to survive and thrive. It is shameful that despite overwhelming public support, the President appears to be doing everything in his power to prevent children from getting the critical health coverage they need. Congress has a moral obligation to stand up to the President and stand strong for children today to ensure a healthy America tomorrow."

Growing Up in Poverty - 20/20 Documentary

Here is a YouTube link to a very moving documentary that came out earlier this year on 20/20 called, Waiting on the World to Change: The Hopes, Dreams and Hardships of Children in America's Most Dangerous City. This piece moved me so much - it reminded me of why I have dedicated my life to reclaiming children and youth through the ministries of The Salvation Army.

"While little children go hungry as they do now... I'll Fight!" William Booth

Frontline: Failure to Protect

Failure to Protect: The Caseworker Files
Failure to Protect: The Taking of Logan Marr

When should a parent lose the right to raise a child? Frontline goes behind the scenes of one state's child welfare system.

Janusz Korczak's Declaration of Children's Rights

I came across the writings of Janusz Korczak while reading the work of Larry Brendtro. Korczak is a Jewish youthworker from Poland who lived during the travesties of WW2. His biography, The King of Children by Betty Jean Lifton is a powerful portrayal of a man whose life is lived out for others. Korczak is noted as saying, "The lives of great men are like legends - difficult, but beautiful.

Here is an exert from Lifton's appendix on Korczak's work on the rights of the child:

As a children's advocate, Janusz Korczak spoke of the need for a Declaration of Children's Rights long before any such document was drawn up by the Geneva Convention ( Korczak: 1924) or the United Nations General Assembly ( Korczak: 1959). The Declaration he envisaged-not a plea for good will but a demand for action - was left uncompleted at the time of his death. Culling through: "How to Love a Child", "The Child's Right to Respect", and other works, I have compiled the rights that Korczak considered most essential:

• The child has the right to love.
  ( Korczak: "Love the child, not just your own.")
• The child has the right to respect.
  ( Korczak: "Let us demand respect for shining eyes, smooth foreheads, youthful effort and confidence, Why should dulled eyes, a wrinkled brow, untidy gray hair, or tired resignation command greater respect?")
• The child has the right to optimal conditions in which to grow and develop.
  ( Korczak: "We demand: do away with hunger, cold, dampness, stench, overcrowding, overpopulation . ")
• The child has the right to live in the present.
  ( Korczak: "Children are not people of tomorrow; they are people today.")
• The child has the right to be himself or herself.
  ( Korczak: "A child is not a lottery ticket, marked to win the main prize.")
• The child has the right to make mistakes.
  ( Korczak: "There are no more fools among children than among adults.")
• The child has the right to fail.
  ( Korczak: "We renounce the deceptive longing for perfect children.")
• The child has the right to be taken seriously.
  ( Korczak: "Who asks the child for his opinion and consent?")
• The child has the right to be appreciated for what he is.
  ( Korczak: "The child, being small, has little market value.")
• The child has the right to desire, to claim, to ask.
  ( Korczak: "As the years pass, the gap between adult demands and children's desires becomes progressively wider.")
• The child has the right to have secrets.
  ( Korczak: "Respect their secrets.")
• The child has the right to "a lie, a deception, a theft".
  ( Korczak: "He does not have the right to lie, deceive, steal.")

How to understand this:

• The child has the right to respect for his possessions and budget.
  ( Korczak: "Everyone has the right to his property, no matter how insignificant or valueless.")
• The child has the right to education.
• The child has the right to resist educational influence that conflicts with his or her own beliefs.
  ( Korczak: "It is fortunate for mankind that we are unable to force children to yield to assaults upon their common sense and humanity.")
• The child has the right to protest an injustice.
  ( Korczak: "We must end despotism.")
• The child has the right to a Children's Court where he can judge and be judged by his peers.
  ( Korczak: "We are the sole judges of the child's actions, movements, thoughts, and plans . . . I know that a Children's Court is essential, that in fifty years there will not be a single school, not a single institution without one.")
• The child has the right to be defended in the juvenile-justice court system.
  ( Korczak: "The delinquent child is still a child . . . Unfortunately, suffering bred of poverty spreads like lice: sadism, crime, uncouthness, and brutality are nurtured on it.")
• The child has the right to respect for his grief.
  ( Korczak: "Even though it be for the loss of a pebble.")
• The child has the right to commune with God.
• The child has the right to die prematurely.
  ( Korczak: "The mother's profound love for her child must give him the right to premature death, to ending his life cycle in only one or two springs . . . Not every bush grows into a tree.")