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| Stop Violence Against Children |
On 1st October 2007, the World Alliance of YMCAs launched a global YMCA campaign to stop child abuse. This Campaign is a response to the Resolution passed at the last World Council on the need to strengthen YMCA action to defend the rights of vulnerable children and youth through a campaign to stop child abuse.
An introductory resource pack (English and Spanish) which includes campaign ideas and testimonies of children whose lives have been changed through the YMCA is now available. The Campaign coincides with the World YMCA/YWCA Week of Prayer from the 11th to the 17th of November and whose theme and reflections focus on children’s rights.
At the global level, the World Alliance partners with NGOs that are engaged in promoting children’s rights within the framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. On 14th March 2006, the World Alliance and UNICEF signed a joint memorandum of understanding as a concrete step towards strengthening the partnership based on a mutual commitment to supporting and promoting child development and the meaningful involvement of young people. Today, this partnership has been strengthened at the local and national levels as National Councils of YMCAs in many parts of the world intensify their engagement in children’s rights.
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| One in ten children is sexually abused. Often the abuser is known to them. What can you do for your children? Watch them, talk to them, listen to them and believe them."
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Most national YMCA Movements are already working to actively uphold the rights of children. The World Alliance is active at international level to support this work, through, for example, advocacy work, strategic partnerships and sharing of good practice.
The world YMCA family committed itself at the 16th World Council, Durban, 2006, to do even more to defend the rights of vulnerable children and youth. All YMCAs are therefore invited to join an international call for action by signing a petition calling on the United Nations to appoint a Special Representative on violence against children.
The UN Secretary-General’s 2006 Study on Violence against Children exposes the shocking scope of violence against children and documents its devastating effects on children, their families, their communities, and broader society. The petition also calls on governments to implement the Study’s recommendations. The Study is available on-line
The World Alliance and several YMCAs have already signed the online petition
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The World Alliance of YMCAs has consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. This allows the YMCA to have its voice heard by high level policy makers through, for example, submitting statements at United Nations Commissions such as the new Human Rights Council. National Movements are encouraged to share their concerns with the World Alliance so that they can be reflected in these statements.
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The World Alliance of YMCAs entered into a new alliance with UNICEF in March 2006 through signing a Memorandum of Understanding. This makes it easier for national YMCA Movements to partner with UNICEF country offices to implement programmes to uphold the rights of children, especially the most vulnerable. The alliance focuses on three key areas for joint action:
> HIV and AIDS
> Basic education and gender equity
> Protection of children
This Memorandum is available in English and Spanish. pdf
Several YMCAs are already liasing with UNICEF to promote children’s rights including Argentina, Costa Rica, East Jerusalem, Korea, Panama, Senegal, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and others.
UNICEF working with the YMCAs in the West Bank >>>
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On 10 May the World Alliance of YMCAs joined a coalition of international NGOs which work together to advance children’s rights.
The NGO Group for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child advocates for the rights of children through raising awareness about the Convention and promoting its full implementation.
Working to promote the survival, protection and development of children and young people has long been a priority for the world YMCA Movement. This commitment to children’s rights was reaffirmed by the World Council of YMCAs last year in South Africa when a Resolution entitled “Working with vulnerable children and youth” was unanimously passed by the Council.
“Through the World Alliance joining this NGO coalition we hope it will be easier for National Movements to get their voices heard at the UN on the urgent issue of children’s rights,” says Secretary General of the World Alliance, Dr. Bart Shaha. Other members of the coalition include Save the Children Alliance, World Vision International and Defence of Children International.
Several National Movements, including the YMCAs of Spain, Costa Rica and Colombia, already belong to national networks of NGOs working for children’s rights. The NGO Group supports the creation and the work of National Coalitions and has a liaison unit to assist those who want to submit reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Visit the CRIN (Child Rights Information Network) website to download a practical tool for NGOs wanting to join or form national child rights coalitions, and to access other advocacy resources on the rights of the child.
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Many YMCAs in every continent are running effective programmes to promote the rights of children. For example, Gaza YMCA support children living in refugee camps to get their voices heard. In Thailand the YMCA is working with AIDS orphans in rural and urban communities. In Ecuador the YMCA is lobbying for changes to public policy to promote children’s rights. In Bulgaria the YMCA has been working to integrate Romany children into communities.
The YMCA of Gaza has joined with five other community organisations to support children living in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip to get their voices heard.
The project "Voicing Children's Rights" has specially trained leaders who meet with the children three times a week. The programme, which only started in 2005, is an ambitious one. It aims to enable boys and girls living in refugee camps to play an active role in promoting their rights in society, and to acquire the basic life skills for self-expression and social communication at both individual and collective levels. The trainers hope that the programme will lead to the long-term capacity building of the YMCA of Gaza and five other community centres as children learn to get their voices heard. Driving the project is the desire to equip children to contribute to building a Palestinian society based on the respect of human rights and civil liberties.
The rights of children are generally more ignored and abused than those of adults. This is even more the case for children unlucky enough to spend time in refugee camps. The project is run in five refugee camps in different parts of Gaza and in the YMCA of Gaza itself, and is targeted at children aged 10-13 years. The children learn how to work together, to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, to know what their rights are, to make joint decisions and to run campaigns.
To date the children have organised two campaigns and they are planning their third. It is the children themselves who decide on the themes of the campaigns, and how they will proceed. Campaigning methods include posters, radio programmes, newsletters, TV programmes, public meetings, visits to leaders, songs, etc.
For their first campaign the children focused on the right to play and the right to learn, and for their second, on the right to good health and again on their right to play, which they see as vitally important. The children are now preparing for their third campaign where they will stand outside the Palestinian Legislative Council carrying big banners and signs they have made, expressing their rights.
The campaigns help the children to increase their self-confidence, to understand their rights and to see how life could be: they are a practical example of democracy at work.
The programme has had a very positive effect on the children and has changed them as a result. One 13 year old girl, Maha Matar, who lives in Dir Albalah Refugee Camp, says of the programme: "I have learnt to express myself and cooperate with others. I know about my right to play and to learn. We have done a lot of good activities; the thing I like most is when we made a big building of the hospital we dream of."
Hani Farah
Project Coordinator
YMCA of Gaza
For further information on YMCA action at the grassroots visit the resources pages
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