Foreword

By: Jamie McGoldrick Genevieve Boutin

why such a focus? For one thing, November 2019 marks 30 years since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was signed in 1989. It is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty, which reminds the world that children are holders of rights, and adults – in particular governments – are responsible […]

Children’s Rights and the CRC

By: Iain Murray

The year 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC builds upon the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed in 1948, which states that fundamental human rights are to be universally protected;*1 it has been translated into over 500 languages, making it the most […]

The Convention on the Rights of the Child and Palestine Refugee Children

By: Matthias Schmale Gwyn Lewis

The 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a good time to pause and reflect upon what the convention has meant for the protection of Palestine refugee* children who live in the occupied Palestinian territory today. When the CRC was adopted in 1989, children were promised that their rights […]

Child Rights in Early Childhood Education

By: Paula Malan

Early education for all is a national policy priority in Palestine. Palestine adopted a basic education law in 2017. The law seeks to expand public preschools with the aim to eventually make this stage of education free and compulsory. With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), early childhood education is for the first time included in […]

Education for Every Child

By: Jennifer Moorehead

Schools should have nothing to do with the conflicts happening in the country. Children here should have the right to education, just like all the children of the world. As an organization that fights for children’s rights across the world, Save the Children considers the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to […]

Psychological and Social Determinants of Child Development

Child Development in an Emergency Context

By: Rima Salah

On this auspicious occasion of the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), we rightly celebrate the impressive gains achieved for the children of the world.*1 The global mortality rate for children under 5 years of age has declined significantly. Hundreds of millions more children are being vaccinated […]

Reflections on Palestinian Child Participation

By: Courtesy of Defense for Children International - Palestine

When two Palestinian children addressed the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in June 2019, they brought to life one of the central tenets of the 30-year-old Convention on the Rights of the Child: children participating in the actualization of their rights. “Children have the right to freely express their views on all […]

Her Education, Our Future

A Force for Gender Equality and Lasting Change

By: Junaid Sorosh-Wali

Girls’ education is at a juncture of two of the most important challenges of our time: education and gender equality. A collective consciousness is rising to ensure that the right to quality education for all girls becomes a reality. The challenges are still immense. Worldwide today, more than 132 million girls are still out of […]

Creating Safe Ground

A Place Where Children Can Play

By: Bridget Forster and Soula Kreitem

Sunshine, children running, laughing, and playing – it’s a childhood idyll that is not experienced by many children. We don’t expect our children to be at risk from death or injury from explosive remnants while they are playing, but many children can’t access places to play because of the danger from mines, unexploded grenades, or […]

Rebuilding Lives and Futures for Children

By: Tokumitsu Kobayashi

In a world with ongoing crises and conflicts, children continue to pay the highest price. Instead of living a normal life, feeling safe and secure, children are being exposed to violence, destruction, and displacement. Having a safe home and easy access to services – such as electricity, sewage, and clean water – has unfortunately become […]

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Palestine

Responding to Children’s Basic Needs

By: Rachele Daffara

In the Palestinian context, and especially in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank’s Area C, water scarcity and lack of WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) infrastructures due to Israeli restrictions have directly led to the deterioration of basic living conditions. Vulnerable people and communities living in Gaza and the West Bank’s Area C are […]

Palestinian Children’s Right to Food Security

By: Fuad Qumber

According to the first executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), Addeke Boerma, “If human beings have a right to life at all, they have a right to food.” The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes that “the right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or […]

Realizing Children’s Rights in the oPt

Steps Taken and the Long Road Ahead!

By: James Heenan

In the words of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Michelle Bachelet, “Every child has a right to grow up safe, to benefit from essential services, and to express her or his opinions, desires and needs. Children are human beings with fundamental rights, and their views must be heard and taken into account […]

A Human Rights Approach to Education in the State of Palestine

By: Courtesy of UNDP/PAPP

In 2015, world leaders adopted the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are an agreed-upon vision that forms the bedrock of a new development agenda that sets the world on a course of action to end poverty, transform lives, and protect the planet. Better vaccines, nutrition, and disease control have cut in half the global […]

Data Collection and Statistics In Realizing the Rights of Children

By: Ola Awad

Statistics are a powerful tool to drive change for the world’s most vulnerable children. The smart demand for, supply, and use of data and statistics can improve the lives and well-being of children. When the right data and statistics are in the right hands at the right time, decisions can be better informed, more equitable, […]

What We Learned on the Masar Ibrahim al-Khalil Trail

By: Genevieve Boutin, Yazan Abu SaDa and Bara Owes

For 30 days in the fall of 2019, children and teachers from schools all over the West Bank were invited to walk with civil-society representatives, Palestinian public servants, United Nations staff, and members of the European Union and other diplomatic missions. Each day we commemorated one of the rights of the child enshrined in the […]

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Message From the editor

It’s been a pleasure to work on this special issue of This Week in Palestine, themed “For Every Child in Palestine.” The topic itself touches one’s heart, and it is encouraging to learn that so many good people and institutions are working to alleviate the suffering and pain of Palestinian children, particularly those in remote […] more

In the Limelight

Personality of the Month

Dr. Hatem Khamash

Dr. Hatem Khamash is a Palestinian medical doctor whose work experience spans more than two decades. In addition to his role as a consultant and adviser for many organizations and programs that deal with neonatal and pediatric care, his biggest achievement is his outstanding work in the development of the Neonatology Department at Makassed Islamic […]

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