The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted 35 years ago. On this occasion, a parliamentary and social project “35 years of the Convention – challenges of the future” was established. As Monika Rosa, head of the committee for children and youth, said, “it is intended to improve the quality of law-making that affects young people.”
35 years ago General Assembly UN adopted a fundamental document, also called the “first constitution of children”. This is about the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It gives legal, civil and social subjectivity to persons under 18 years of age.
Work on the Convention has been ongoing since 1979, when Poland presented the need to regulate children's rights as human rights. Our country ratified the Convention in 1991, accepting the obligations arising from it.
“35 years of the Convention – challenges of the future”
On the occasion of the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, on the initiative of the Sejm Committee for Children and Youth, the Marshal of the Sejm Szymon HołowniaDeputy Speaker of the Sejm Monika Wielichowska and representatives of the government and social circles, a year-long parliamentary and social project was created entitled “35 years of the Convention – challenges of the future”. It is intended to emphasize the importance of the Convention for the political system and democracy in Poland.
The project is open and will last at least one year, said Monika Rosa (KO), chairwoman of the committee for children and youth, quoted in a statement on the Sejm website. “We want to open the parliament to social circles, children and youth, institutions responsible for their health, development and safety, in order to jointly develop the basis for better public policies and improve the quality of law-making that affects young people,” she added.
Children's safety in the digital world – as assessed by the Speaker of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia – is one of the greatest challenges in Poland.
“Although we talk about it too rarely on a daily basis, there is no more important issue for politics than caring for children and young people as the most sensitive and vulnerable group, and at the same time crucial for the future of the state and society,” he said in the statement. “This is why, for the first time in the Polish parliament, we have established a commission focusing exclusively on this important social group,” he said.
A number of consultations, workshops and conferences
The project and its assumptions were announced on Friday in the Sejm. The plan included, among others: protection of children against patostreams and freak fights, application of the legal principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in digital media, counteracting sexual violence against children and combating CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Materials) content, protection of the image and other personal data of children, social contract around the minimum age of using social media platforms and education to protect children from harm.
Dozens of public consultations with the participation of children and young people, workshops, seminars, and civic and scientific conferences are planned. “The priority is to increase the safety of children in all aspects of life, learning and spending free time. On December 11, the first of four events will take place, during which the legal principles of the Convention will be translated into practical solutions to contemporary problems, including challenges related to digital media, environmental protection and climate policy,” we read in the statement.
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