ABSTRACT
THIS BOOK CONCLUDES with a reflection on the global context in which we now find ourselves and why this is important. Britons have always explored the world and lived and worked in far-flung places. Knowledge of the wider world not only expands our own context but also, as early years professionals, helps us to respond empathetically to the children and families for whom we have a responsibility, wherever their origins within the world. Many people have mixed responses about those who do not originate from similar cultural backgrounds. In this sphere, above all others, honesty and introspection about personal feelings and prejudices are crucial, so that children and families can be treated with respect and understanding. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 states in Article 2:
Whatever the current discussions about the UNCRC, these two sections should encapsulate the basic respect we offer to children who are present in the UK. We have not always done so, particularly with regard to the children of asylum seekers or refugees. Visiting a group of children at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture in London early in 2006, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Professor Al Aynsley-Green, commented:
C H A P T E R
The study of children as citizens is a relatively new one; though a number of years ago the French published books aimed at school aged children, drawing attention to their rights under the UNCRC. Alongside these, books for younger children were available which described what it met to be citizens of he European Community, written from the perspective of children in each of the member countries. More recently the Mayor of London has published a website for young Londoners (Internet 2) with links to the Unicef Youth Voice website (Internet 3).These sites draw the attention of children living in London to their rights under the UNCRC and invite them to have their say. Such a move is not always popular in the UK, where the viewpoint that ‘children should be seen and not heard’ often prevails, The difficulty lies in establishing agreement on the meaning and implications of being a ‘citizen’, looking which implies some form of ‘participation’ in the state to which you belong. A conference paper by Ruth Lister (2005) on Children and Citizenship explored this issue, looking at participation as opposed to protection and exploring the idea of responsibility as another way for the very young to claim acceptance as citizens, rather than waiting passively for citizenship to ‘be bestowed on them by others’ (p. 1). Age, however, is a difficult dimension as children mature to their responsibilities at different times. We have explored the position of young carers in a previous chapter and Lister raises it again in the context of ‘citizenship’. The whole concept of citizenship in the UK needs further thinking and research, but young children should not be denied its protection solely because they are viewed as ‘citizens in waiting’.
