RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

The rights of the child were always at the centre of Maria Montessori’s work. Today, Educateurs sans Frontières strives to uphold her legacy and promote the rights of the child throughout the world, irrespective of race, religion, political and social beliefs and in particular Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Convention, and in recognition of its ratification by nearly every country in the world, we commit to promoting the rights of ALL children as articulated in the Convention within the communities in which we work; we commit to creating environments in which all children with whom we work will have the possibility of participating and developing their own understanding of their rights, in part through making available to them child-friendly versions of the Convention.

Directing our action toward mankind means, first and foremost, doing so with regard to the child. The child, that ‘forgotten citizen’, must be appreciated in accordance with his true value. His rights as a human being who shapes all of mankind must become sacred, and the secret laws of his normal psychic development must light the way for civilisation.

Maria Montessori

WHAT IS THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD?

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted and opened for signature on 20th November 1989.

The Convention on The Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority is attained earlier under national legislation.

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OUR OATH

Educateurs sans Frontières will strive to promote the rights of the child throughout the world, irrespective of race, religion, political and social beliefs and in particular Article 30 of the Convention.

We recognise and will support the capacity of each and every child to grow to their full potential.

We draw our inspiration and commitment from the work of Maria Montessori, and from the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We recognise that many children still suffer deprivation, discrimination and exclusion and as a consequence lack the opportunities to grow to their full potential.

In co-celebration with the 30th anniversary of the Convention, and in recognition of its ratification by nearly every country in the world, we re-affirmed our promise to commit to promoting the rights of ALL children as articulated in the Convention within the communities in which we work; we commit to creating environments in which all children with whom we work will have the possibility of participating and developing their own understanding of their rights, in part through making available to them child friendly versions of the Convention.

“Maria Montessori changed the world
for children, we can do the same.”

“We are preparing to celebrate two important birthdays. Later this month we will celebrate the 30th birthday of the Convention on the rights of the child and next year we will celebrate 150 years since Dr. Maria Montessori was born. She was a huge supporter of childrens’ rights. That work informed all she did all through her life. She spoke about the need for people to recognize that young people, children, have needs that are different from adults and need different support mechanisms. 30 years ago, in a very unusual show of global solidarity, the countries of the world adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. That Convention captured an awful lot of what Montessori had been advocating for a long time.

There has been a tremendous amount of progress for children in the last 30 years. Many fewer children die before they reach their fifth birthday. Many more have access to clean water, many more are better nourished than they ever were before. Diseases such as small pox and polio have been eradicated. Most importantly, more children are in school than at any time in history. All positive, but there is a lot more that we still need to do.

These two birthdays coming together offers the opportunity to do two things:

To think about how to best prepare children for an uncertain and unpredictable future. I don’t think any generation previous to this has had such a deluge of information to deal with. No generation has had to struggle so much to understand what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false, what is real and what is not. Our job is to help them make those sorts of decisions. I think this is where Montessori comes in to its own. Maria Montessori changed the world for children, we can do the same.

A few months ago, in Mexico, a group of senior Montessorians from across the world considered how best to celebrate the birthday of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They put together a statement that reiterates and repeats Maria Montessori’s commitment and AMI’s commitment to the rights of the child. I think we can do two things with that.

I would ask all of you to take that statement, bring it to the attention to your NGO partners and particularly partners in government, reminding them of their obligations to children under that Convention. Advocate to them where the gaps are in meeting the rights of children in their communities and countries.

But also, look into our classrooms, see how we can help children understand what their rights are. How best they can articulate and gain those rights. If we do that, we are not only preparing children who are better informed, who make better decisions in the future, but we are also leaving the legacy that all of us in Montessori, in AMI, have inherited from Maria Montessori herself.”

Philip O’Brien

AMI President
10th of November 2019