Big birthday bash for children's rights

MANILA, Philippines –  On the 21st anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly last month, Manila celebrated with a big street party at the Quirino Grandstand.

The festival, hosted by Bahay Tuluyan, a non-government organization committed to developing innovative initiatives that support children in need of special protection in the Philippines and made possible with the support of UNICEF, CIFA, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and 50 partner organizations, was the third street party to be held in the country to raise awareness about children’s rights.

Originally named The Street Children’s Festival, this year’s event has been expanded in scope to address issues of marginalized children.

“The occasion reaffirms the world’s commitment to enforce children’s rights, especially for children in need of protection,” festicval chair Catherine Scerri says.

Most of the children who attended the festival were from marginalized sectors. These children include those who are indigenous, live on the street, have to work to support themselves, are in conflict with the law, or those who experience abuse, disability or prostitution.

In a day-long activity, the children enjoyed what most children take for granted in their comfortable worlds – balloons, parlor games, storytelling, face painting, drawing competition, puppet shows, video tutorials, movies, cooking lessons, ice cream, photo booths and all the stuff that childhood is made of.

600 volunteers from different sectors signed up to man the booths and a total of 2,500 children attended the event. More than a fundraising activity, the festival raised awareness for the need to improve the system of supporting and providing protection to vulnerable children, she says.

“The system is not responding and there is a lot of work to be done. We need the commitment of governments, individuals and groups. We need to take an active role to sustain the project,” she stresses.

Many stalls at the festival provided essential health and welfare services such as medical check-ups, haircuts, even a hand washing demonstration.

For those who did not make it to the party, their paintings, drawings and poetry were showcased.

“Ako ang nasa drawing. Kasama ko si Jasmin. Papunta kami sa school. Sabi ni Pres. Aquino ay tutulungan ang mga batang hindi nakakapag-aral (That’s me in the drawing. I’m with Jasmin. We’re going to school. Pres. Aquino says he’ll help kids who can’t go to school),” writes one girl in a drawing.

“This is me and my mom riding our bike to church. I am lucky because I can go to church,” a boy from a braille school writes.

One of the most moving works, however, is a poem written by Wellima Catalino from Asilo de Vicente de Paul entitled “Karapatang Kaloob ng Iba.”

Ibinigay sa akin ng aking magulang karapatan kong maisilang, ngunit hindi ang makapiling sila ng lubusan

Sa kanilang pangangasiwa edukasyon ay nanganib na di makuha salamat sa tulong ng isang institusyon, pag-aaral muling naipagpatuloy.

The Philippines, says Scerri, has 40 million children or 35 percent of the population. 

The statistics, however, are not encouraging. The number of poor Filipino families has gone up from 4.36 million in 1985 to 5.14 million in 2000, according to the World Bank Monitoring Case Study. Children are accounted as the largest number of poor population among the basic sectors based on numbers from the National Statistics Bureau. As a result, malnutrition rate for children under five years old was 30.6 in 2001, while 12 percent of Filipino children aged five to 14 years old from 1999-2008 partake in labor. An estimated 1.8 million Filipino children aged 0-17 years are orphans, according to UNICEF Child Info.

Ironically, the Philippines is an original signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child.

“Children are still caught in armed conflicts, unable to go to school, do not get adequate care, work in dangerous circumstances, and the list goes on,” trustee and VP of Bahay Tuluyan Dr. Ernesto Pernia laments.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, explains UNICEF in its website, sets out the rights that must be realized for children to develop their full potential, free from hunger and want, neglect and abuse.  

“Children are neither the property of their parents nor are they helpless objects of charity. They are human beings and are the subject of their own rights,” it states.  

UNICEF Philippines country representative Vanessa Tobin says every adult has a responsibility to ensure that those rights and needs are met.

But in a not so perfect world for raising children, there are always stumbling blocks and challenges. There is always hope, however, for making the UNICEF vision of protecting children from violence, exploitation and abuse a reality, and Scerri says it is anchored on vigilance.

“The young remember most deeply,” writes science fiction writer Dan Simmons in The Rise of Endymion. “When we are old and failing, it is the memories of childhood which can be summoned most clearly.” 

We need to make memories – good ones – for tomorrow’s Filipino citizens. As the title of a video shown in one of the booths at the festival says: “Siya ay bata, mahalaga (He is a child, precious).”