Every Child in the Commonwealth Deserves a Family
Posted by AlexT - 01/12/09 at 03:12 pm
This conversation-starter is written by Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive of EveryChild. For over 25 years, and in over 15 countries around the world, EveryChild has been fighting to protect children without the care of a family, and those at risk of ending up on their own.
On the 20th November 2009, the U.N. General Assembly welcomed by consensus the Guidelines on the Alternative Care of Children, exactly 20 years on from the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Guidelines provide urgently needed guidance on how governments can develop family- based alternatives to institutional care and provide services to help keep vulnerable families together.
It will be essential for the Commonwealth to encourage its member states, which have all ratified the UNCRC, to develop action plans for the full implementation of these guidelines which involve the participation of children, families and communities. Such action plans should not narrowly focus on child- care reform, but extend to ensure, firstly, that children without parental care are considered in social protection programmes, and, secondly, the delivery of basic services.
The guidelines are an essential enhancement to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly in light of the findings of a new report by EveryChild that reveals there are at least 24 million children in the world who are growing up without parental care and, due to the global recession, their number is rising rapidly. It is time to recognise the right of every child in the Commonwealth to grow up in a loving family environment.
Category : Health, Human Rights, The Commonwealth's Relevance
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