Convention on the Rights of the Child

[-Serenity-]

I read this little article in the metro today which stated :

 

"The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child is a set of non-negotiable standards and obligations. IT states all children everywhere have the right to survival, to develop to the fullest, to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. The agreement protects children by setting standards in health care, education and legal, civil and social services - benchmarks against which progress can be assessed. It has been ratified by 192 countries. Only two countries - the US and Somalia have not accepted it"

 

Am I to assume Somalia is against children's rights or didnt have a government in place at the time?

 

 

More info on the convention:

 

Source

 

Countries that signed it and declarations they placed on it.

 

Source

[Curly]

Yeah I’ve seen this before, I think it’s because they didn’t have a proper government in place at the time. As for why the US didn’t agree I haven’t a clue…maybe they were too busy waging war on some poor deprived third world country in the name of freedom no doubt.

[Blessed]

In 1989 Somalia was up in flames, am surprised the Metro doesn't know that much, lazy journalism, eh?

 

It was around that time that Somalis started migrating to the UK in large numbers.

 

But America... now that is interesting :confused:

[-Serenity-]

^^ I've considered that, but 'has not accepted' does not translate to 'could not' or 'was not in a position to'. I think the translation implied that Somalia did not accept willingly.

[- Femme -]

IT states all children everywhere have the right to survival, to develop to the fullest, to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.

What somali person would agree to those demands?

 

1. They believe children should be seen and not heard.

 

2. I think each family plants a tree in their yard...for a good supply of thick, long, strong limbs to beat the crap out of their kids.

 

3. Children are put to work as soon as they can walk---herding animals, looking for firewood, etc. etc. etc. <---could that be exploitaion of child labour?

 

But serioulsy, I think its because there was no functioning government at that time.

[Blessed]

Look at it this way, bundling Somalia and America together gives the reader the wrong impression, wouldn’t you agree. One is a world wide ‘super power’ that was running around imposing its self righteous values on the world.

 

The other is one of the poorest, most dysfunctional and misgoverned countries on earth, which was also in the middle of a civil war at the time. Do you honestly think that Siad had the time or care to look into some xaquuq ciyaal document in the Somalia of1989?

 

Anyway, it’s not that am defending the Somali government. Personally, I doubt that any Somali government; past or present will have the insight to carry such a policy through, it requires too much work and spending for our breed of politicians…… Where will they get qaad money, if they made sure that every Somali child had shelter, food, access to education and have these rights provided for and protected by national law? How will they get the time for their precious qaad sessions?

[Saxardiid]

Siyad barre didn't rectify this conversion not because he didn't spare some one to fulfil all technicalities but he did on purpose. He was getting military support from the US and didn't feel to isolate her.

 

What happen to children's rights for all those countries that rectified the convention but haven't done anything for them? E.g. most of African countries that slave children? What about Brazil that her security forces kill children daily or sex slave in Asia. At least this time Somalia was honest about the children’s rights.

[Curly]

Originally posted by Ameenah:

Look at it this way, bundling Somalia and America together gives the reader the wrong impression, wouldn’t you agree. One is a world wide ‘super power’ that was running around imposing its self righteous values on the world.

 

The other is one of the poorest, dysfunctional and misgoverned countries on earth which was also in the middle of a civil war at the time.

I agree with Ameenah, however I think the real reason why they “bundled†America with Somalia is much more sinister and manipulative than you think.

 

Think about it Somalia hasn’t exactly had much of a “good†(under statement of the year!) representation in the eyes of the media globally. In the UK alone we’re continuingly portrayed as savages and uncivil.

 

“As if being accused of eating Donkeys, over populating London, terrorism and having a sadistic culture, wasn’t enough. We Somalians will now be associated with spreading disease like the common rat.â€

Disgraced Nation

 

Personally I think that this reporter may be anti-American and by grouping America with Somalia he's ultimately trying to have a stab at America’s image by associating it with a country like ours.