From Monday's panel discussion, entitled "Who Will Speak for the Child?"

On Monday evening, the PEN Children’s and Young Adult Book Authors Committee presented a panel discussion on the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child. “Who Will Speak for the Child: An Evening of Literature and Law,” moderated by former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, was organized in conjunction with New York University’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.

Representing both literature and law, the panel included authors Walter Dean Myers, Deborah Ellis, and Uzodinma Iweala, and lawyers Laura Murphy and Jonathan Todres. They gathered, along with supporters, at the NYU Law School to discuss not only the importance of human rights and the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child around the world, but also why the United States has been so reluctant to ratify the treaty that it helped to write. In fact, as Philip Alston of the CHRGJ noted in his opening remarks, the U.S. and Somalia are currently the only two countries who have failed to sign the treaty, which identifies the social, political, and cultural rights of children, while 193 other countries have done so. “Is the U.S. really so different from every other country in the world?” he asked.


Panelists Deborah Ellis (l.) and Walter Dean Myers.

While many compelling and passionate arguments in favor of ratification were presented by members of the panel, perhaps some of the most poignant moments came from Myers and Ellis. Myers (Monster; Sunrise Over Fallujah) spoke of the many atrocities committed against children in the U.S., and of his particular experience with the increasing number of children being tried as adults in the court system, and incarcerated for lengthy sentences. “I go to prisons and I see a major problem,” he said. He once asked a group of 14-year-old girls what the hardest part of being in prison was, and was shocked by their response. “They said the hardest thing was not knowing where your children are,” he said.

Deborah Ellis (the Breadwinner trilogy; Three Wishes) also spoke from personal experience. She read aloud the narratives of two children she met in her travels through Africa and the Middle East. Both children had been forced to quit school due to such issues as the loss of a parent, sickness, poverty and violence. Ellis also reminded the audience that she is Canadian, and “in Canada, we sign everything,” she said with a smile. But, as she and many of the other panelists pointed out, signing the Convention of the Rights of the Child and other treaties like it is only the first step. Measures must also be put in place to enforce its guidelines if it is to have any true impact.

Optimism and hope were the hot topics of the night, and although there are some signs that the U.S. may be reviewing its 20-year stance on the treaty, it is clear that the fight for human rights around the world and at home will be a long one. “As long as children are weak,” said Myers, “we will continue to beat them up. We need to speak for the child, but also give children and communities the language to speak for themselves.”