Submitted by crinadmin on
Carmen Madrinan is the Executive Director of ECPAT International, based in Bangkok She has been working in the sector for 25 years.
Child rights as a whole is an area that requires significant attention. All articles of the CRC are very essential for the realisation of child rights. The moment you reach the one it leads to violation.
From the point of view of our work our focus is on the realisation of articles related to children's right to protection from sexual abuse and commitment to contribute to implementation of actions that will strengthen protection against this violations. This is done through engagement with local level organisations. through an organised forum of civil society networks.
My biggest achievement in my career has been surviving the Congress.... This is partly because so much has been done on sexual exploitation, and the movement against it is quite mature now. So there was a fear that the momentum for another congress may not necessarily be sufficient to make it possible – and vibrant - this time around. But a lot of preparation went into it especially at regional levels, where there was huge momentum particularly with children's involvement, this was a major achievement.
The one piece of advice I would give child rights advocates is that it is important to remain connected to the ground. While you are looking at influencing international policies, if you want to be credible, you must be deeply engaged, respectful of and connected to the ground.
One good thing about the Convention on the Rights of the Child is that it is an instrument which differentiates the special rights of children. It provides a very practical tool for a wide variety of initiatives for children under one umbrella. It allows us from different vantage points and organisations to feel we are part of a large united community.
One of the worst things about the Convention is that, often times, the recommendations of the Committee take a long time to be recognised both as a system of procedures and as a tool for implementation and monitoring. Also, we have been so concerned with reporting, that we only recently have put time into ensuring there is implementation as it matures. This is all part of the process of course.
I do think the Convention has really made a difference. It is one of the most powerful instruments in the Human Rights world, it is huge and the reality has changed. This is not to say that we don't have a lot that remains to be done, but it is the best recognised and most influential human rights instruments.
One thing I admire greatly is the organised effort of groups of individuals, people that organise themselves to support important child rights and human rights work, not as individuals that require recognition, but put themselves as individuals into a larger cause. personality cult.
If I was not working in child rights, I would work on issues related to women.
The best thing about my job is all the great organisations and individuals that I meet and work with.
The worse thing about my job is all of the responsibilities for administrative elements, ensuring things run smoothly.
If I was not answering these questions.... I would be thinking about some questions with regards to the Universal Periodic Review that I think are important.
My expectations for the Congress were met. We had really good participation from all levels and countries: government representatives, children, NGOs and a wide range of issues were covered and addressed in a more practical matter. Of course the amount of participants was also a challenge and we knew that was going to happen as there were organisational problems that meant we were not always able to focus on the content.
Another Congress? I think there will be a review progress, periodicity of review is very important so that it does not fall off the agenda. Someone has to be responsible for a review but maybe not in the form of another congress.
My perfect job in child rights would be more rounded in actual implementation of a number of activities, justice initiatives and connected to public policies.
If I had to sum up children’s rights in one word... an expectation.