U.N. Request To N.Z. On Rights Of The Child

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29841, 6 June 1962, Page 2

U.N. Request To N.Z. On Rights Of The Child

World Children’s Day will not be officially observed in New Zealand until October, but some organisations round the world will mark the occasion today.

One of these groups, the Pan Pacific and South-east Asia Women’s Association, will hold a special panel discussion on “The Rights of the Child” tomorrow evening in Christchurch.

In this forum, speakers are expected to discuss and reconsider the aims and objects of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, passed by the General Assembly on November 20, 1959.

Passed unanimously on that occasion by the 78 national representatives present at the General Assembly, the 10-point declaration was based on the affirmation that “mankind owes to the child the best it has to give.” .Although many of the rights and freedoms set out in the document had already been mentioned in the famous Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the Assembly in 1948, it was later felt that the special needs erf the child justified a separate declaration. 10-Point Charter Summarised, they are as follows: — That the child has a right to enjoy special protection and to be given opportunities and facilities to enable him to develop in a healthy and normal manner in conditions of freedom and dignity. ... to have a name and a nationality from his birth. ... to enjoy the benefits

of social security, including adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services.

... to receive special treatment, education and care if he is hand leaped. ... to grow up in an atmosphere of affection and security and wherever possible in the care and - under the responsibility of his parents. ... to receive education. ... to be among the first to receive protection and relief in times of disaster. ... to be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation. ... to be protected from practices which may fostier any form of discrimination. ... to be brought up in a spirit of understanding, tolerance and friendship, among peoples, peace and universal brotherhood.

Proclaiming in its preamble the indisputable right of every child to a happy childhood in which he can “enjoy for his own good and

for the good of society the rights and freedoms ... set forth,” the declaration calls upon parents, upon men and women as individuals and upon voluntary organisations, local authorities and national governments to recognise these rights and strive for their observance by legislative and other measures progressively taken in accordance with the principles in the declaration. Request to N.Z. To keep alive and further these ideas among women in New Zealand, the representative of the Pan Pacific Association at United Nations headquarters (Mrs Helen Fowler) specially requested the association to make a special study of the declaration with a view to a nation-wide report on its possible implementation being sent back to the United Nations. Discussing this yesterday, the president of the Christchurch branch of the association (Miss Mary McLean) said it was to be hoped that church, educational and other social welfare organisations in the Dominion would lend their assistance to the proposal. The United Nations request sent through Mrs Fowler had emphasised that New Zealand, with its previous experience in advanced social legislation, could be an undoubted asset in outlining practical implementation of the ajrns of the declaration. During the next few weeks her association hoped to get all the women of New Zealand inspired with the idea, said Miss McLean.