For every child, a childhood
I am a child. I am not a worker. I am not a soldier. I am not a wife… I have the right to play. Children in South Sudan are calling adults to ensure every child can be a child.
The call for a childhood for every child is the focus of this year’s World Children’s Day appeal of the children of South Sudan. For many children this basic right is not respected.
Children highlight most children in South Sudan are denied the right to be a child. They are given responsibilities beyond what one can expect from a child. Children must work, give birth, look after their siblings, … They are abused and exploited as soldier, for sexual purposes… No time for them to be just a child, go to school and play with their friends.
The World Children’s Day is celebrated in South Sudan and throughout the world on 20 November, the anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the world’s largest human rights treaty. South Sudan has ratified the Convention in January 2015.
Key findings
The children of South Sudan ask
We – children of South Sudan – ask Government, humanitarian organizations, community leaders, our parents and all people in our country to increase their attention and action for the rights of children and for the right of every child to be a child.
We, children of South Sudan...
- ask adults to respect us as children instead of abusing us as workers, soldiers, street children and wives, and we ask teachers never to use violence against us because a school should be a safe place.
- ask adults to respect our right to express our opinion and to take our messages seriously.
- thank Government for the reopening of our schools and ask to ensure schools remain open.
- ask Government and schools to increase resources and attention in educating us about our rights.
- ask Government and schools to organize physical education and set up playgrounds so we can play and practice sport, because the right to play is an important right for children.
- ask parents to fully take up their role as parents, take care of us and respect our rights.
- ask authorities and communities to take special care of children with disabilities and other vulnerable children so that they too can have their rights fully respected.
- invite our parents, teachers, and adults to better inform themselves about our rights as children.
Every child has the right to education
Every child has the right to play
Every child has to right to know his/her rights
Every child has the right to be protected against abuses
Every right has the right to expression
Every child has the right to be taken care of by their parents or guardians
Every adult need to know about the rights of children
Every child has the right to education
Poems on the right of a child to be a child
Rights to be children
By Ludia Gibriel
Who will listen to the still voice of voiceless?
Who will wipe the tears of the Child?
Homeless we are, hungry we stay
Days come; nights go but thirsty we remain
Who will rise and support the needy?
Look how we suffer on the street
No place to sleep or food to eat
With bad situations to bear but no one seems to care
Will the streets or the verandas remain our home forever?
Who has the answer to my questions?
We are victims of defilement and child labor
Oh! Is it our parents’ duty to take care of us? Yes, it is!
But it is not only our parents duty, it is everyone’s duty
Whether the government or non-governmental organizations, it is also your duty! Come and save us from these burdens, beyond comparison because we are suffering!
We have the right to be children
We need your collective responsibilities, all stake holders to protect and empower us to realize our dreams and aspirations
I am a child
By Rita Nyara
I am a child
I deserve happiness
I deserve love
I deserve peace
I don’t deserve sadness
Why always people blame me
Why people punish me
Why my voice is not heard
Do I deserve this?
Give me the joy
Give a complete understanding
Give me nice time
Not the hard one
Because I deserve to be happy
Alarm
By Wendy Macar
My eyes are glued to my window
Young children are playing like there is no tomorrow
But me, I’m in my aunt’s hut
Once I stained my dress it was a closed case
Hands running in between the mess of plates, in my hands they feel like blades
The voices in my head are getting louder day and night
My delicate fingers ache
They long to hold something
They long to hold hands with my friends and play in a circle
My stomach longs to ache with my laughter and chatter
I want to dance in the rain, but my tears rain with pain
For I know time lost will not be gained there’s a loud bell ringing in my head, a million questions that I can’t find answers to,
Why can’t I just be a child?
Why can’t I play with my toys and not bullets?
I’m not a wife, soldier, or worker I’m a child who wants to be a child.
