Join the Campaign for Children’s Rights in the USA

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the world’s most universally accepted treaty, a comprehensive statement of the treatment and respect deserved by every child under 18 in the world. The United States and Somalia are the only countries that have not ratified it. For the past 20 years, U. S. Presidents have failed to send the CRC to the Senate for ratification, although President Obama has said that he’d like to see it ratified. Ratification would end the US Government’s exile from global discussions about children and would help children and their families in the United States and everywhere else by making the CRC truly universal.

Please sign our petition to President Obama at http://www.childrightscampaign.org to ask him to send the CRC to the Senate along with his recommendation that it be ratified. You can do it easily by visiting http://childrightscampaign.org/take-action/ask-the-president/petition.

WELCOME BACK TO OUR BLOG; PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK US OUT ON FACEBOOK AND LIKE OUR PAGE, CHILD RIGHTS!!!

Thank you ALL for your continued support as we go into the next phase of helping ratify Children’s Rights in the United States! Your comments and suggestions means a lot to us! Also, if you’d like for us to come to your school and organizations to present and showcase our CHILDREN’S RIGHTS Documentary, please contact us! Thank you

Sincerely,

The Children’s Rights — Teens

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Child-Rights/271266309573752

We’re Baaaack!!

We’re back with a bang, after a three month hiatus. The Isaacs Center’s Teen Action lost funding and our members were disbanded. Our members felt driven to continue their project regardless of funding.

We are expanding our goals to not only reach young people in East Harlem but also throughout New York. We are starting by continuing our Speaking Tour, using other promotional outlets such as twitter and facebook. We will be taking on new initiatives such as petitions, flash mobs, and developing a Children’s Rights’ curriculum.

If you are interesting in having us present at your school, organization and/or community, please email us at childrights12@aol.com. Like us on Facebook via Child Rights.

Youth Producers win First Place in NYCLU Freedom of Expression Contest

During the Child Friendly Communities East Harlem after school program, we produced a film about the rights of the child. We interviewed children, youth and adults on the streets of East Harlem, and conducted focus groups with 70 children aged 8-18, and 25 adults. This film, produced by and for youth, has won first place in the New York Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Expression Contest (see http://www.nyclu.org/bway for more information about the contest).

Everything You Need To Know

In the last two weeks we screened our documentary at two sites, New Settlement Bronx Helpers and PS 112. We presented our work to 25-30 high school students at The Bronx Helpers. They were very passionate and involved. They asked several questions ranging from “What is children rights?” to “How can they help?” From the questions, we felt we made an impact.

At PS 112, the 5th Graders loved our icebreaker. We asked several questions but the one that stood out the most was when we asked if they thought boys and girls were treated differently. One boy stated that boys are not treated the same. He gave the example of not having mirrors in his school bathroom while the girl’s bathroom had mirrors. The girls in our group was very surprised–boys and girls are treated differently even within the design of a school bathroom.

This week, May 30th through June 2nd, we will be presenting our documentary to the 6th and 7th Grade class at Opportunity Charter School, located at 240 W113th street.

From Manhattan to Brooklyn…our Speaking Tour

Teen ACTION had a busy week. We made 3 stops on our Speaking Tour. First stop, Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries Teen Center (RMM). RMM Teen Center is located at 410 W. 40th Street in the heart of Time Square. We presented our documentary and got feedback from the RMM Teens. We learned from the RMM Teens that cutlures are celebrated in their community through food. In fact, they will be having their 9th Annual Food Festival this weekend, May 14th & 15th.

Second stop, the Human Rights Summit with International YMCA. The Summit was designed and implemented by the International YMCA Leaders Club. Workshops were conducted by young people. These workshops ranged from Rights to Religion to Slavery. We had the opportunity to present our documentary during the second half of the summit. Mariama Barry and Daejah Campbell conducted a 75 minute workshop with young people from the outer-boroughs. One student commented that “the presentation was fantastic and loved it!”. We were able to engage in the summit’s theme “Think locally….Act Globally”. We were thinking locally by tackling the issues at home in East Harlem and acting globally by spreading awareness about The Convention on the Rights of a Child–the Children’s Bill of Rights.

Third stop, The St. Nicks Alliance’s Teen ACTION. These Teens were very enthused. Kecia, Rosie and Tobi conducted the icebreaker on Children’s Rights. This sparked conversations around descrepencies amongst neighborhoods within New York city. One teen stated the only programs in his community were basketball courts. Brandon, an Isaacs Teen, explained the goal of the project while Kecia introduce the documentary. Both Teen ACTION sites , Isaacs and St. Nicks Alliance, walked away from the workshop feeling excited and energetic.

Thank you teens from RMM, International YMCA Leaders Club and St. Nicks Alliance for participating in our Speaking Tour. It was a shared experience!!!

First Stop on our Speaking Tour!!

Teen Action jumped started their Speaking Tour last week Wednesday, April 20th. First stop on our tour, the Harlem Children’s Zone, TRUCE Media program. We screened our youth produced film on Children’s Rights and discussed findings from our focus groups.

The Teens at TRUCE were excited. One teen stated “I’m excited to see this project reach more ears and hopefully get ratified in the future”. They gave invaluable suggestions. For instance, one teen suggested we start a petition on Children’s Rights.

Thank you TRUCE Media staff and young people!! We had a great time!!

We are geared up to visit several organizations around the city. If you are interested in our Speaking Tour please contact Latoya Hall at 212-360-7625 ext. 221 or lhall@isaacscenter.org

Watch a 10 minute video clip of our conversation about children’s rights.

Teen Action presents at UNICEF to kick off the International Year of Youth

Teen Action presented at UNICEF on Tuesday, April 12 to over 100 adults interested in youth participation. See a press report of the event here Press Report

Fact Sheet – Youth Participation

An educators opinion on the Convention on the Rights of the Child

On March 8th, 2011 Mariama Barry, from Teen ACTION, interviewed Laura Vural. Ms. Laura Vural is the Director of Education at Harlem Children’s Zone, HCZ. Mariama spoke with Ms. Vural at Columbia University, Teacher’s College, on the topic of Children’s Rights. Ms. Vural feels children are not given the attention they deserve–they’re not apart of the decision making process. Ms. Vural suggests that we, as Youth Advocates, research our rights then educate others. Also, she feels Children’s Rights should be apart of the curriculum in school just along side Math, Science and Social Studies. Ms. Vural thinks there should be more after school programs that focus on bringing awareness on children’s rights because this will empower them to become Children’s Right Activists. This may prevent children from gang affiliations. Even though Ms. Vural does not work with UNICEF, she believes their vision addresses the rights of a child. UNICEF helps create the space where children are able to own these rights. One of the most important and interesting thing she stated was that parents may feel guarded about children’s rights—it may take away from their authority as parents. But if children were given these rights, parents would see that this would not be the case. In effect, Children’s Rights are to protect and empower the children of the world.

By: Najah Gonsalves

I <3 my Community!

Last week Teen Action visited P.S. 198, and asked younger kids between the ages of 11 and 12 how they feel about their schools and community. For the most part, they felt their communities were safe. One thing that surprised us was the fact that none of the children had email addresses nor were part of any social sites such as Facebook, and Myspace. One student expressed she didn’t want to be a part of any social sites because she didn’t like the fact that people were hiding behind who they really were online.

We discussed Online and Cyber-Bullying, as the girls expressed their thoughts regarding recent News headlines and current events. They agreed that in recent years, Cyber-bullying has risen, and talked about what schools are doing to try and prevent these incidents from occurring.

It was surprising these young ladies had very little knowledge or awareness about gangs. We should have more discussions with this group and teach them awareness about gang violence and train them to identify how to react in case they are faced with such issues. From what we heard, and based on our discussions, these were very smart and well educated children who were knowledgeable regarding internet dangers. We encourage that we continue promoting the rights of children to all kids and communities in order to continue promoting their rights!

Sincerely,

Teen Action!!