I’ve been burning the midnight oil this week, editing a report to be launched at the International Children’s Peace Prize award ceremony on 9 November in The Hague. The prize is awarded each year to a child who has dedicated themselves to fighting for the rights of other children. If you ever doubt the strength and resilience of human beings, take a look at the children who have won this prize. They are awe-inspiring. They are unshakeable. Their fundamental belief in justice is a light that shines on everybody around them.

Every year I help to shape the prizewinner’s life story for printed materials. Sometimes the nominees are little-known outside their own communities, and I’m limited to a few privately sourced texts to work with. Sometimes – as with 2013’s winner, Malala Yousafzai, who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her heroic dedication to universal education – I have a rich pool of material to draw from.

The first life story I worked on made a particular impression on me. Thirteen-year old Kesz, from the Philippines, was the 2012 winner. At two, he was sent out begging on the streets. At four, he ran away from his abusive home. At five, he was pushed into a blazing pile of tyres on the dump where he lived, and was taken in by a social worker.

From his new life of safety, all Kesz wanted to do was help the children he had left behind. At seven, he bought flip-flops to protect their feet, in place of a birthday present for himself. By 13, through his own organisation, he had delivered 5000 gifts, 4000 toothbrushes, healed 3000 wounds and trained an ever-growing network of child volunteers in 48 communities to spread the news about hygiene, nutrition, gardening and children’s rights. All this, by 13.

Standing up for children’s rights lies at the heart of the International Children’s Peace Prize, and is the raison d’être of the Amsterdam-based charity behind it, KidsRights. Over the past few years I have edited numerous reports published by the charity, and they are a constant reminder of how lucky my own children are. There was one report, about child sacrifice in Uganda, which I had to be persuaded to take on. It has permanently changed me. I will never forget the details, and I will never repeat them. It is unthinkable, what humans can do.

Technically, these things should no longer happen. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by every member state except for the USA, provides a global framework for protecting and promoting children’s rights. All of its signatories are obliged to implement its provisions in national legislation, and this is a work in progress.

But from all that I have learned so far about children’s rights around the world, one thing is very clear: enshrining the rights of the child in national legislation is an excellent start, but it is only a start. If it’s not coupled with a determination to change lives, it means very little to the scared little girl cowering on the kitchen floor, sold into slavery, or marriage, or both. Governments must apply themselves to implementing change, enforcing new laws, providing support facilities, ensuring access to justice, and shouting it all from the rooftops so that the children – and those who violate their rights – can hear it loud and clear.

The 2015 International Children’s Peace Prize will be awarded on 9 November in The Hague.

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About Catriona
I love to tell stories. My career has covered many bases, but communication has always been at the heart of everything I do. From journalism, politics and PR to art and design; from broadcast animation to published picture books and copy editing, it’s all about making people look and listen, and love what they hear. 

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