Overview of the 5 challenges: 1. Why Children's Rights? - 2. Autonomy & recognition - 3. The right to education - 4. Protection against Child labour - 5. Rights for girls & Equality

By students of Haags Montessori Lyceum (HML) - Den Haag:

Why do we need special children’s rights and not only human rights?
And why is it so important everyone should respect children’s rights?

Please take a look at this video:

And find some answers on this web page of 'Save the Children'.

Ireland

We know there are a lot of countries where children do not have access to essential things: enough food, clean drinking water, a safe environment and education.
Even in the countries where you wouldn’t expect it, there are some children’s rights that aren’t fully respected by everyone.

Children from Ireland tell which things should get better in their country regarding children’s rights.

India

The problems in Ireland are not as bad as the problems in some other countries. In India, for example, there are still a lot of children who have to work for their own food and can’t go to school.
Luckily there are a lot of people who try to save as many children as possible to give them the things they need. `

One of the people who is trying to make the world a better place is the boy in this video:

You can see that we really do need children’s rights and that there is still a lot to do to give all children the things they are entitled to. 

Assignment 1: Research

We know that you're still young and you don't want to stay in your classrooms all day. 
We thought of assignments that you can do outside your school, to explore the world. What does that mean? Well, we'll explain how to do that in smaller steps..

To stay in school and ask students and teachers what they think about children's rights, is no fun.
We suggest that you'll go into the streets, and ask people what they think is an important children's right.
You can make a summary of what you heard and learned. Make a presentation, a news flash, pictures or a video.  Be creative !!!  

Assignment 2: Debate

We will use our debating skills now and talk about new rights. Maybe this is a little difficult but let's break it down:
At home and at school there are certain rules, you have certain rights. Maybe you are not allowed to go to the bathroom during the lessons and you want to change that rule.
At home you are not allowed to watch TV after 9.30 pm and you want to change that.

• Choose a right or rule to discuss.

• Divide the class into two groups. One group represents the students/children, the other group the adults.

• Think of good arguments for your group, to convince the others.

• The debate can start, you can use the schedule below.

• Perhaps you can film the debate? 

• The other groups can give feedback on the arguments and agree or not. This is helpful to practise your debating skills.

• Maybe you'll be able to convince your parents or your teacher about the new rule...