A celebration of child rights

On the 31st anniversary of the signing of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), we joined the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group and MEP Helmut Geuking for a celebration of children's rights.

Watch the celebration highlights!

What is the UNCRC?

The UNCRC is a wide-ranging statement of child rights that has been ratified by every UN member state except the USA.

It contains 54 articles that cover all aspects of a child's life and set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children everywhere are entitled to.

UNICEF, a UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide, credits the UNCRC with helping transform children's lives across the world. They state that, since the ratification of the convention in 1990, there has been a more than 50% reduction in deaths of children under five, the proportion of undernourished children has almost halved and 2.6 billion have gained access to cleaner drinking water.

However, there is still work to be done. UNICEF also states that 262 million children and young people are not in schooling, 650 million girls and women have been married before their 18th birthday and one in four children will live in areas with extremely limited water resources by 2040.

Therefore, it is important to keep children's rights in the public eye and to continue to draw attention to the need for improvement where and when feasible.

Sistema Europe and the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group

Sistema Europe is a member of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group, which has made it its goal to ensure that European societies place the quality of childhood at the centre of their activities.

Last year, on the 30th anniversary of the UNCRC, Sistema Europe and the Alliance for Childhood visited the European Parliament with our president, Marcus Marshall, and teachers and young musicians from Passeurs d'Arts programmes in the Île-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (click here to see our article on the event).

This year, the pandemic made it impossible for us to perform on site, therefore, we arranged for a digital celebration of child rights to ensure that the anniversary still received the attention and commemoration it deserved.

An online celebration

Throughout November, Sistema Europe, Sistema Europe members and the Alliance for Childhood worked intensively to put together an online programme celebrating those particular child rights which best relate to our current circumstances and to the work that Sistema and Sistema-influenced programmes carry out on a day-to-day basis: namely, the right to health, the right to education and the right to play.

The result was a lively event with Sistema and Sistema-inspired representation from across Europe. It featured nine youth orchestra performances, nine statements from young people and opening and closing remarks from MEP Helmut Geuking, Alliance for Childhood President Michiel Matthes and Sistema Europe President Marshall Marcus.

Event programme

The musical performances by programmes from such diverse locations as, for example, Finland, Portugal, Cyprus and the Czech Republic highlighted the potential that all children have, while our young speakers helped impress upon us the significance of universal open access to all three of the rights concerned.

What our young musicians had to say about child rights

On the right to health:

Dario, Sistema Lombardia (Italy)

Especially in this situation that we are living in, healthcare should be guaranteed to everybody and it should never be ruled by the law of profit. I think that everybody, no matter whether they're a child or a grown-up, should be able to have access to cures.

Esther, Harmonie Foundation (Czech Republic)

Children should have access to nutritious food, to clean water and to medication. Vaccines should be accessible in places where children are at risk of catching any sort of disease. Also, a great aspect of healthcare is having a good or healthy living condition, such as a place to sleep or a place where a child can go to feel safe or feel loved.

Martina, Sistema Lombardia (Italy)

The right to health is a right for all boys and girls. At the moment when someone comes into the world, they have the right to feel well and to grow up without health problems. This is especially important for very young children who do not yet know what awaits them or how to look after themselves.

On the right to education:

Sarah, El Sistema Greece (Greece)

Education is not only a very important right in its own respect, but also because it provides a pathway to other rights. Therefore, all children should possess this right from an early age. School should be compulsory for all children and access to higher education should also be open to everyone according to their abilities.

Ritag, Sistema Lombardia (Italy)

This right is, in my opinion, the most important right, or, at least, among the most important rights. Some of you might say, students certainly, "what are you talking about?! It's a drag!", but let's look at the most important aspect of it. Studying is difficult, that's normal, but, unfortunately, if you don't study, you will have worse difficulties later on. The right to education is a right that I think we have to grasp firmly and to keep a tight grip on. We must never, ever let it go.

Dario, Sistema Lombardia (Italy)

The right to education is, in my opinion, the most fundamental of all rights. Through education and school, every boy or girl can become a better or more responsible citizen. I think that, through these skills, we will be able to be build a better and fairer society for everyone on this planet.

On the right to play:

Ennio, Sistema Lombardia (Italy)

As I see it, playing is not just playing. It's about having fun, getting distracted for a bit. Playing is not pushing a toy car around the floor. You learn a lot through playing. You learn how to be together and you can even learn how to read. And, not only young children should be playing but also adults. Adults, too, work a lot and need some time to be carefree.

Foivos, El Sistema Greece (Greece)

Playing is not just a child's right or need, it is like asking a person to breathe.

Martina, Sistema Lombardia (Italy)

We all really need moments in which we can be carefree, but you only really have these moments when you're a child. And, for me, the right to play has been very important, also when playing in the orchestra. Playing in any sense, be it musically or in the course of a game, means being in contact with other people. And, being together with the SONG orchestra is a moment I always look forward to. We are a team when we get together and play. I feel really good when we are together, I forget my problems, fears and paranoias. And, it's like that for all of us, for some of us when we play music, for some of us when we play football and for some of us when we play card games. Playing is the most beautiful moment for all of us.

Recording of the event

If our description or the highlights video (at the top of the page) has given you a taste for the event, then you can watch and enjoy the whole celebration by clicking on the video below.

Watch our celebration of child rights!

Child rights 365 days a year

Of course, child rights are important throughout the year and our celebration is only a more prominent example of the work that all of our members carry out on an every day basis.

For, as Mr Geuking so aptly concluded in his closing remarks, the event on the 20th November highlighted both the progress that has been made in child rights and the necessity to continue improving the access to and exercise of these rights worldwide. We hope, therefore, that it will be possible to once more emphasise the importance of these rights within the political arena of the European Parliament next November and, until then, we shall all look to help contribute towards their implementation in our own communities across the continent.