Nectar

Publication: UNICEF Alberta

By: UNICEF Alberta Youth Leader

Every flower has the right to blossom, every animal was born to be free. Bees collect nectar from flowers without hindrance. Being free and having liberty, is simply the law of nature. I’ve always wondered what issue is of utmost importance to me and have concluded it is human rights. It is when the law of nature is disturbed, that imbalance is caused.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the “The Convention on the Rights of the Child,” in 1989. It is the most endorsed human rights treaty in the world, ratified by all but two countries. It celebrates childhood and codifies in international law the rights due to every child.

The reason rights, specifically children’s rights, are so important is because they are defenseless and naive. What is a child to do if the mother who bears him hurts him? How can a child go against the hand that feeds him? A poster against child abuse I once read stated, “It shouldn’t hurt to be a child.”

Children are learning from the day they are born, and do not know what is right or wrong. Our role as a society is to nurture them instead of punishing them for mistakes they are unable to comprehend.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that every child should have the right to an identity, play, thought, conscience and religion and protection by law. It discusses the importance of the development of a child, education and nurture.

Not only is it recommended to support the convention, it is crucial. After all if bees couldn’t collect nectar, this world wouldn’t be as sweet a place.