24.2 (Summer 2000) Rethinking Childhood: Perspectives on Children's Rights

The History of Children's Rights: Whose Story?

It is impossible for any welfare agency, at any level, to ignore the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). All policy and program planning for children claim to be "rights-based," and this Convention is inscribed into the mission statements of intergovernmental agencies and non-governmental organisations. It justifies the existence of a myriad of child rights organisations and specialists. All this has happened within the space of just over two decades, so that it appears as if the history of child rights is recent, modern and novel.

Sna Jtz'ibajom Special Project: Tzeltal-Tzotzil Mayan Literacy Program

Sna Jtz'ibajom is a Tzotzil-Tzeltal Mayan cultural cooperative in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Its goal is to find a new voice for traditional Mayan beliefs and customs on paper, the stage, the airwaves, and in film. A segment of the cooperative is the Tzeltal-Tzotzil Mayan Literacy Program, which promotes the Mayan language through a six-month course to students ranging in ages from 10-60 (the great majority are now children and a few young men).

Rights and Responsibilities in HIV-Affected Communities in Zimbabwe

All members of a community are vulnerable to HIV infection. More than half of all those who become infected, however, do so under the age of 25 and most die before the age of 35. Children are at high risk of infection in their early sexual experiences, and, as parents die, they also take on increasing burdens of responsibility. Children living in AIDS-affected communities have a right to protection, to prevent themselves becoming infected with HIV, a right to care, and a right to support. Children have a right to grow up without taking sole responsibility for households.

Plant Trees to Raise People: Introducing a New Cultural Survival Special Project

On the island of Mindanao, the last virgin rainforest in the Philippines struggles to remain alive. Mindanao is also the ancestral home of the Higaonon, a never conquered or colonized tribal people who still maintain a distinct dialect. Upholding ancestral customary laws, retaining ancient traditions, and living in harmony with one another, the Higaonon respect their rainforest with a reverence similar to prayer. As Higaonon tribal leader Datu Efren Mandipensa expresses it, "Every morning I whisper `Peace' to the trees. It passes from tree to tree throughout the forest."

Methylmercury Poisoning: Another Gift from Hydro-Quebec?

Methylmercury Poisoning: Another Gift from Hydro-Québec?

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