INTERVENTION OF THE HOLY SEE
AT THE ORDINARY SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE
CHILD
ADDRESS OF H.E. MSGR. SILVANO
M. TOMASI
Geneva, 23 March 2007
Mr. President,
1. The Delegation of the Holy See
very much welcomes the attention given to child protection and to children’s
rights in recent studies and debates. In fact the child should not only be
placed high on the political agenda but right at the centre of concern: the
future of society depends on children and on how they are prepared for it, and
their vulnerability calls for special protection. A child is neither an
instrument nor an object. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child attributes to the child the fundamental rights of a person; it recognizes
the child to have the same equality and dignity as any adult person. In its
preamble, it affirms that because of its immaturity the child "needs special
safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection before as well as
after birth." Respect of children is respect of humanity.
2. In many cases, due to lack of
will and of resources, good legal provisions and public policies are not
implemented, with grave consequences for children. They often become the first
victims of famines and wars. They are crippled by unexploded munitions, deprived
of schooling, lack sufficient food, are obliged to sleep and survive on
sidewalks in urban centres, sick with AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis without the
possibility of medicaments, sold to traffickers, recruited into irregular
armies, uprooted by forced displacements, compelled into long hours of
debilitating work. These millions of young victims are a vivid symbol of
existing inequalities and failing systems. Unfortunately these are not the only
contradictions affecting children in our globalized world. To many children the
right to life is denied; prenatal selection eliminates both babies suspected to
be with disabilities and female children simply because of their sex and thus
deny the equal and intrinsic value of disabled persons and of girls for their
families and for society. In a variety of ways violence against children goes
on, a humiliating violation of their rights as human beings.
3. If respect of the human rights
of children measures the health of a society, then the legal recognition of
these rights is urgent. The first right of children is that of being born and
educated in a welcoming and secure family environment where their physical,
psychological and spiritual growth is guaranteed, their potential is developed
and where the awareness of personal dignity becomes the base for relating to
others and for confronting the future. The target of eliminating violence
against children and of providing a constructive and healthy context for their
development demands that the State and society concretely support and enable the
family to carry out its task. A vital way, in fact, to counteract the
vulnerability of children is to strengthen the families in which they are meant
to grow, to thrive, and to be formed as responsible and productive citizens in
their local communities and in the wider society. Governments must assume their
rightful role to protect and promote family life because the family has obvious
vital and organic links with society. The creation of conditions leading to
peace and economic progress, a continued responsibility of the national and the
international communities, will open the way to reducing and eventually
eliminating those situations that hurt children in a disproportionate way. My
Delegation certainly agrees that all forms of violence against children are
unjustifiable, preventable and must be stopped.
4. A coherent effort to eliminate
violence against children will therefore reject the exaltation of violence in
the public culture of society. Education becomes a critical instrument to
instill
not just tolerance for coexistence in today’s societies experiencing everywhere
a greater pluralism, but appreciation and respect of others, openness to
dialogue in a concerted search for the common good, and even to love as a more
constructive bond for the orderly functioning of society. It would turn into a
new form of violence against children if the State were to impose a specific
model of moral conscience on children without taking into consideration the
moral and religious convictions of parents. Civil society has a major role to
play in supporting the family and counteracting all forms of violence against
children. On her part, the Catholic Church’s over 300,000 social, caring and
educational institutions work daily to ensure both a peace-oriented and creative
education for children, and the development of their talents, and to provide the
reintegration of abused and neglected children into their families, if possible,
and into society.
Mr. President,
5. Children are both weakness and
hope. To pursue the defence of their rights and the elimination of all forms of
violence against them remains an institutional challenge for the international
community. Success will be reached if priority is given to the natural role of
the family and to the public culture that recognizes that children too are full
human persons.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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