Last November marked 25 years since the Convention on the Rights of the Child was first opened for state signature.
Australia, along with most of the rest of the world, is now a party to the Convention, which affirms many important rights, like the rights of children not to be tortured, not to be subject to sexual abuse or trafficking, and not to be drafted into military service.
Alongside these rights are some that might raise an eyebrow, such as article 31’s protection of the “right to play,” or article 17’s obligation on state parties to “encourage the production and dissemination of children’s books.”
Nevertheless, despite varying opinions on whether playtime and the Muddleheaded Wombat ought properly to be described as ‘human rights,’ most people would agree that the Convention is pretty harmless, and grounded in a thoroughly decent desire to protect those who often cannot protect themselves.
It is interesting how these things acquire a life of their own, though.
Article 42 of the Convention gives parties the obligation to “make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.”
Presumably this is the provision that the Old Parliament House in Canberra was thinking of, when they decided to spend taxpayer money setting up an exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Convention.
A worthy goal, and one that the Australian government was bound to fulfill somehow, right?
Sure, but was a $31,000 kaleidoscope cubby the best way of going about it?
Particularly when the cubby was available for ‘taxpayer playtime’ for only four evenings?
What do you think?
William Shrubb
