Rhoda Moy Crawford Urges Stronger Protection for Young Children’s Rights

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Hon. Rhoda Moy Crawford, is calling on early-childhood practitioners to become stronger defenders of children’s rights throughout Jamaica.

She made the appeal recently at the seventh annual Early Childhood Commission (ECC) Professional Development Institute, hosted at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James. Ms. Crawford said children, from their earliest years, must be treated not only as persons who need care, but as individuals with rights whose dignity, wellbeing, security and full development must be protected.

She linked that responsibility to the conference theme, ‘Making Rights Real, Reclaiming General Comment 7’, saying it “calls us not only to reflect but it calls us into action”.

Ms. Crawford said General Comment 7, which was adopted in 2005 by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, makes clear that the Convention on the Rights of the Child covers children in early childhood, especially those younger than eight.

“It emphasises that young children possess inherent rights that governments, institutions, communities and families all share responsibility for ensuring those rights are realised in practical ways,” she noted.

The State Minister said the gathering gave stakeholders an important opportunity to strengthen their pledge to shield children from physical, emotional and psychological injury, while helping to build caring spaces that allow them to grow and develop in a healthy way.

She also pointed to the need for policymakers, educators, parents, communities and development partners to work more closely together in improving Jamaica’s early-childhood system, with the child’s interest guiding each decision.

“Let us collectively recommit ourselves to making children’s rights real, not merely in policy documents or declarations but in classrooms, homes, institutions and communities across Jamaica,” she urged.

The ECC stages the Professional Development Institute each year to build the skills of educators and other stakeholders and to support stronger standards in early-childhood development and care.