Beyond the Lens of Becoming

Beyond the Lens of Becoming

“Through the transformative power of the CRC, children are no longer ‘adults in the making’ whose value will only matter in the future. Children are human beings with rights here and now. Children are first and foremost the present, rather than ‘our future’.” After finishing an online UNICEF AGORA course, I remember how reading this sentence altered the way I perceive children’s rights and how it genuinely lingered and remained firmly etched in my mind.

I grew up repeatedly hearing a slogan on a children’s cartoon channel advertisement: “Spacetoon, the channel of the future youth.” Over time, this subtle messaging shaped a quiet misconception about childhood, an unconscious distilling of children to their potential as adults. This misconception is widespread, we often assume that if we take care of a child, respect, protect, and fulfill their rights and needs, we are simply constructing a solid foundation for a good and virtuous adult. However, this perception of a child is an act of dismissing them as human beings, humans who have the right to give their opinions, thoughts, and views freely, without being judged for their young age, religion, nationality, race or disability, everywhere, equally, and without conditions.

They are, in fact, active participants in society, and the role of their parents or guardians is mere assistance and guidance.

Furthermore, children are rights holders, and these rights are preserved by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) through its 54 articles and international human rights instruments. States are not “helpers”; they are legally obligated actors who must implement rights through three levels of obligation: Respect (do NOT interfere with rights), Protect (stop others, including parents, institutions, and companies from violating rights), and finally Fulfil (actively provide systems, services, and resources).

These obligations must be applied to all branches of government: legislative (laws), executive (policy/action), and judicial (courts), etc. 196 countries have ratified the CRC, which makes it the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world. Every UN member state has ratified it except the USA, mainly due to political, constitutional, and sovereignty concerns, not opposition to children’s rights themselves.

In light of the above, as we see in our work every day and all around the world, child rights are in crisis – violated, deprioritized, ignored, and pushed back. Therefore, this is a reminder of what we stand for and what we aspire to achieve every day: promoting and defending all rights for every child, everywhere, at all times.

This course did not only deepen my understanding of child rights but it also made me question how often children are shifted from “rights-holders” to “future citizens.” What remains with me most is not only the framework of the CRC, but the question it raises: how different would our systems look if we truly designed them with children as present rights-holders, rather than future adults?