children rights – Catholic Commission for Social Justice

By Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ, & Director, CREDI

“The family is important, and it is necessary for the survival of humanity. Without the family, the cultural survival of the human race would be at risk.” – Pope Francis, 2013

I am in London at the moment and have been discussing with friends the impact of poverty on families/children in the UK. Child Poverty Action Group reports that “poverty affects one in four children in the UK today… poverty isn’t inevitable. With the right policies every child can have the opportunity to do well in life, and we all share the rewards of having a stronger economy and a healthier, fairer society.”

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children” – Nelson Mandela.

On Tuesday, November 20, the world will commemorate Universal Children’s Day. It also marks the 22^nd anniversary of the adoption of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This day is celebrated each year “to put public initiatives and campaigns in place to raise awareness of children’s rights worldwide, awareness of their situation in life, problems, wishes, needs and longings as well as to enable exchanges and meetings between them” (UNRIC).