20 Years - Convention on the Rights of the Child

In 1989, a group of youth came together to organise the 1st National Lasallian Leaders' Convention. This year, as we celebrate 20 years of lasallian youth work in Malaysia, we find that there's another cause for celebration!


In that same year, world leaders decided that children under 18 years old needed a special convention to protect them and so the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was born. Today, 20 years ago, the CRC was open for signature and ratification.


The four core principles of the Convention are

non-discrimination;
devotion to the best interests of the child;
the right to life, survival and development;
respect for the views of the child.


All the Articles protects the rights of the last, the lost and the least. ;)


Malaysia ratified the CRC in 1995 but expressed reservations for (which means they don't agree with and will not abide by) Articles 1, 2, 7, 13, 14, 15, [...], 28, [paragraph 1 (a)] 37, [...] of the Convention. To find out what these Articles are about, go to http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm.


For more information on the CRC, visit http://www.unicef.org/rightsite/237.htm


Radio stations and newspapers nation-wide have stepped up to support and to promote respect for the rights of children.


So did Lasallians!


Firstly, Lasallian Day of Prayers for Peace (LDOPP) was held in Lasallian schools (nation-wide as well). The theme was 'The War on Children'. Photographs and more information coming soon!


Next, a few of us, namely Marveen, Dinah, Aaron and Pui Yi, helped out at Yayasan Kajian Pembangunan Masyarakat (YKPM), an NGO that works with urban poor children. We conducted sessions on 'Values' for children aged 6 - 15 years. A whopping 49 children turned up!

Here's what Dinah thought of the experience:

"It was my first time helping out with the YKPM programme. I knew the programme was specially for children but certainly did not expect such a big group! There were around 40 of them with only four of us trying to control the crowd. The children were very active and some were vying for extra attention. Nevertheless, we still managed to carry out sessions after a while. I think the group prefers activity-based programmes because they lose interest quickly while facilitators talk or give instructions. They like activities that require them to move around. All in all, it was a different experience from other Lasallian activities. For the next programme, we definitely need more helping hands!"


Here are a few photographs that don't do justice to the chaos on that day.