Message from the Ombudsperson Nichole Tirant-Gherardi on the occasion of the 30thanniversary of the Universal Convention on the Rights of the Child |20 November 2019

Mrs Tirant-Gherardi

‘Educating our children to make the world a better place’

“As we join the rest of the world today to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, let us renew our commitment to ensure that all children grow up in a family environment in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding to fully prepare them for their future role as responsible adults of tomorrow.

“Thirty years after the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted on November 20, 1959, the United Nations Convention was adopted on November 20, 1989. It gave universal recognition to the fact that the child, because of his/her physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care in order to fully assume his responsibility within the community.

“Today, 60 years after first recognising that promoting the rights of children in our society was necessary because mankind owed the child ‘the best it had to give’, we need to take stock of where we are in that undertaking to ensure that every child has a happy childhood and enjoys for his/her own good and the good of society the rights and freedoms set out in the Declaration.

“History notes that while it took the rest of the world the complete disruption of the old world order to turn the Declaration into a Convention after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Seychelles had moved ahead and set the legal framework for children's rights seven years before. Whatever the motivation at the time, the Children Act passed by the People’s Assembly in 1982 was a pioneering legislation ahead of its time in its commitment to children. But that advance may have been lost as focus shifted and failed to effectively rise to the challenges of the 1993 Constitution and keep the child at the heart of the law.

“This anniversary should offer us a platform for deeper reflection on the true meaning of the convention and what children’s rights really infer. Today the rights of the child has lost its luster as the public debate turns controversial with everyone focused on the call to end corporal punishment which some see as parents and authority losing control over children and its inevitable outcome of sparing the rod and spoiling the child.

“Too little attention is paid to the bigger picture contained in the convention and its guarantee of many more rights that serve to bring the debate back to the child and its ultimate welfare in preparation for the responsible adult of the future.

“In addition to an inherent right to life, the convention also guaranteed the right to be educated within a disciplined environment consistent with the child’s dignity with the aim of developing to their fullest potential, the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities. In Article 29 of the convention, the state undertook to ensure that the education it gives will show the child respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for the child’s parents, cultural identity, language and values as well as the national value, and prepare the child for a responsible life in a free society in the spirit of understanding, peace and tolerance and respect for the natural environment.

“This 30th anniversary of the Convention is a time to reflect on the quality of the education we are giving our children. The 1993 Constitution of Seychelles placed the right to protection of families at the heart of our society. In Article 32(1) the state recognises the family as the natural and fundamental element of society. It guarantees the right of everyone to form a family and undertakes to promote the legal, economic and social protection of the family.

“It is in this commitment that the state’s promise to educate the child holistically assumes its full importance. We must now focus on the quality of that education, the first step on that life journey. Is it up to the promised standard and does it provide what we promised it would? Does it prepare our children on how to think and how to become productive and engaged citizens of tomorrow? Does it give them all the tools and the environment each child needs to go to school, learn to think for himself, be trained and ultimately be employed?

Ultimately, sparing the rod demands that we educate our children, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, “to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will.” Only then will we “have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society” and make the world a better place.”