My Public Service Announcement – Children’s Rights

The Unit Of Inquiry (UOI) I am currently learning at school is about sharing the planet, and the central idea of this unit is to look at the social issue – “Actions can support or deny access to children’s right and opportunities”. I am pushing through the limit to look into some circumstances. Some children in this world are under-privileged; some are mistreated; some are forced to do child labour, child prostitution or fight in war; some are abused and living in fear, and their childhood are being taken away. I realize that we have the responsibility to help. The world should come together to show their care and to take possible actions to protect these children. This is their basic human right. We should try to help and to bring back their rights. We should all be treated equally. But my mind always have these questions, “Are we all equal?” “Will everyone have an equal opportunity or will it always be different?” It’s a matter of facts that we are not equal. But we can do something to narrow the gap. We should let the world aware of these abused children. To show my care, I have produced an iMovie to promote my Public Service Announcement (PSA) to encourage the world come together to help and to protect the children’s rights.

Through this inquiry into the children’s rights, I am slowly coming to understand that, but sadly to say, we will never be equal. Equal opportunities is about people who should be treated similarly no matter what their religion, race, gender …are or how rich or poor they are. But in this world raw materials and natural resources are distributed unevenly, which give some countries advantages, but some not. We have different religious; we have different cultures, we have different governments and policies, we have different climates, we have different populations, we have different living standards, we have different beliefs and we have different point of views. We are different in race, gender, religion, power and so on. Some countries are richer than others. Some people are poorer than others.

We often learn from news that there is some poor people in some under-developed or developing countries that they have no choice but would sell their children for money just to make a living. These children may end up becoming child labour, child prostitution or slave. Joseph KONY is another example of children exploitation. KONY 2012, which was a project created by a charity organization – Invisible Children to catch Joseph KONY who kidnapped children in Uganda for multiple purposes such as fighting in war and child slavery. These children are being badly abused and exploited by this evilly war crime leader. I embedded the video – KONY 2012 to my blog to make awareness to the world about this war crime leader. The ultimate aim is to catch him. I watched this video with my mother. My mother was shocked and could not stop crying because she could not bear that there is such a crime that could happen to these poor children. Where is the justice?

We are all different and we are not equal. “Will we ever change or will we be the same for generations to come?” or “Will we be equal or will we be different forever?” I am glad to learn that there are many non-profit organizations and projects around the world such as Free The Children, CNN Freedom Project, UNICEF, Invisible Children who are taking actions to help these children. There are people who have principle, justice, care, respect to human rights. They are against child slavery and against exploitation of children; and they support the children’s rights and encourage the world to help, to free and to educate these children.

But I strongly believe that we can change the world if we work together. We can make our world more equal and a better place for everyone, especially for these children. We need to protect the children’s rights. But if no one will support and fight for the children’s rights then I guess it will just be the same for generations to come. I know that if everyone just does a bit of his or her share we CAN change the world.

I have learnt in this UOI that awareness is the first step that we can do to help to protect the children’s right. Let the world know about the facts of these abused children. To show my respect and care of these children, I have produced an iMovie to promote my Public Service Announcement (PSA) to protect the children’s rights. PSA is a message in the public interest disseminated by media without charge, with the objective of raising awareness, changing public attitudes and behavior towards a social issue such as children’s rights.

The reasons of producing this iMovie for my PSA not only to show my respect and care, but I believe that this is everyone’s responsibility to take actions against crimes and wrongdoing. PSA can be a persuasive tool to bring awareness of the children’s rights to the public. We are not equal but we can level it out, if we all do a little bit of our share. For instance, donating to an organization already can help these underprivileged children.

I have chosen Article #31 from UNICEF’s United Convention On The Rights Of The Child paper for my PSA, which is about “Children Having The Right To Play And Sleep”. The reason I chose Article #31 is that I am a child and I would not like to lose my childhood. Imagine that if I only studied for my academic results for day and night, no play and no rest. I would like to end my life, because there is no meaning of life. I want to play, socialize and enjoy time with my friends and family; and I need to rest and sleep properly so that I can grow healthy and happy. So, you can think of these abused children who work as child labour working day and night, no play and little rest. How harsh it is for them. I am so against and angry with children whose rights to play and rest have been taken away and their opportunities have been lost. I feel this right is very important because children need time to play, through play they learn better, and when children study better, they can grow better. They need to be balanced; when children are balanced they will be happier. I believe that children are our future, and let to make this world a better place.

Today I have completed my PSA and I am very proud to present it to you because I put my heart and effort making it and I wish the world would come together to help and to protect the children’s rights. Because every child in the world has one thing in common, their rights! No one should take away a child’s childhood! What is your decision? Support it with actions or deny it?!

Please watch my PSA and TAKE ACTION!