Kacper Dąbrowski, 11 years old, Primary School no. 2 in Sochaczew, 4th grade Drawings of the winners of an art contest organized by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education – All equal – Human Rights in the Child’s Eyes

Poland and the Convention on the Rights of the Child –

the legacy of Janusz Korczak

There are no children, only peopleJanusz Korczak

November 20th, 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – international human rights core document enjoying a nearly universal recognition.

In 1979, during the celebration of the International Year of the Child, it was Poland that proposed the draft text and initiated the negotiations that led to the adoption of the Convention.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of Poland’s major achievements in the area of International Human Rights Law.

There are no children, only people

Contribution of Polandto the Convention

on the Rights of the Child.

Malika Mitchell of the Eisenstein Day Care Center in Brooklyn presented the petition signed by 1000 children supporting the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the UN Under-Secretary-General, Jan Martenson, Goodwill Ambassador Audrey Hepburn, James P. Grant, UNICEF Executive Director, and Professor Adam Łopatka, Chairman/Rapporteur of the Working Group on a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child© UNICEF/NYHQ-3864/Ruby Mera

Why did the concept of the Convention

on the Rights of the Child come from Poland?

Zuzanna Maćkowiak, 9 years old, Culture Centre in Rydzyna, 3rd grade Drawings of the winners of an art contest organized by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education – All equal – Human Rights in the Child’s Eyes

There are no children, only people

“(…) the Delegation of Poland actively participated in the process of drafting the Declaration of the Rights of the Child which was adopted by the United Nations in 1959. There was thus an international tradition of Polish engagement for the improvement of the situation of children all over the world. This tradition has its foundation in the sensitivity of Polish society to the suffering and misery of children. During World War I and even more so during the World War II, children in Poland experienced suffering that is hard to describe. It was caused by wartime operations taking place on Polish territory. As a result, many children starved, were deprived of basic health care and access to education, and were forced to perform difficult and excessive work. During World War II, children and their parents were massively displaced from their homes and many were taken from their homes in order to undergo Nazi indoctrination. Children of Jewish and Gypsy origin were victims of extermination. Few remember today that the German Nazi authorities even set up a concentration camp for children in Poland where thousands of Children lost their lives. These past events were a stimulus for the Polish authorities to take action to improve the situation of children, which as we know – very often was and is tragic.”Professor Adam Łopatka, Chairman/Rapporteur of the Working Group on a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Although Poland in the 1970’s was well hidden behind the Iron Curtain, Polish children were not less (or more) happy then their peers from other parts of the world. They had their joys and sorrows, their problems and challenges.

There are no children, only people

“Children are not the people of tomorrow, but people of today. They are entitled to be taken seriously. They have a right to be treated by adults with (…) respect, as equals. They should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant to be - the unknown person inside each of them is the hope for the future.”

Janusz Korczak

“The importance of respecting children and their opinion was the main message of the Polish writer, doctor and educationist, Janusz Korczak, whose teachings came to inspire the Drafting of the Convention”

Thomas Hammarberg, the former Commissioner for Human Rights,

Council of Europe

Janusz Korczak with children in the front of the Orphans’ Home Thomas Hammarberg – the former Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe at the seminar “Children’s rights in the concept of Janusz Korczak” - May 8th 2012, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York.

The Korczak model of childhood

and the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Professor Adam Łopatka, Chairman/Rapporteur of the Working Group on a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child:

“In the years between the two World Wars, a contemporary concept of childhood was developed. At its core is the conviction that the child is an autonomous person who has his or her own needs, interests and rights; and that he or she is not only an object of care and concern but also a subject whose interests and rights should be respected. According to that concept, the child, at a certain stage of his or her development, is capable of formulating and expressing his/her own opinions which ought to be taken into consideration. The main exponent of this new concept of childhood was Dr. Janusz Korczak – a doctor of medicine, a writer, a philosopher and an educator. He confirmed the loyalty to his vision of childhood in his own life. Although he had the opportunity to save his life, he decided to remain instead with the children he was taking care of until the very end – and died with them in a gas chamber in the German Nazi concentration camp of Treblinka in 1942. When the Polish Government put forward the first draft of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (…), it wished to promote Dr. Korczak’s concept of childhood throughout the world”.

There are no children, only people

Janusz Korczak – a life devoted to children

Janusz Korczak (whose initial name was Henryk Goldszmit), a Pole of Jewish origin, was born in 1878 or in 1879 in an assimilated Jewish family in Poland. He earned a medical doctor diploma in 1905 at the Berson and Bauman Children’s Hospital in Warsaw. As a physician he was drafted in the Russian army and participated in the Russo-Japanese war. He witnessed the Russian Revolution, World War I, then the regaining of independence by his motherland – Poland in 1918. Taking part in the Russo-Japanese war made him aware that the ones to suffer most during armed conflicts between adults, were children. Children were to carry “the side effects” of the changes of history…He opened orphanages for Polish and Jewish children (Nasz Dom, Our Home –and Dom Sierot, The Orphans’ Home). He worked there as an educator and pediatrician.

Korczak with children and educators in the front of the Orphans’ Home

Poster of the seminar organized by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York, Greg Palka

Korczak with his children walking to the Umschlagplatz“The Champion of Children. The Story of Janusz Korczak”, Tomek Bogacki

Irena Sendler, helped to save over 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. She was granted the title of Righteous Among the Nations, and was nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize. “None of my most dramatic war experiences, such as tortures at the Pawiak prison, and in the Gestapo Headquarters in Aleja Szucha, nor the sight of young people dying in the Armia Krajowa (Polish underground army) hospital , where I was a nurse during the Warsaw Uprising, made quite the same horrific impression on me as the sight of the procession of Korczak with the children walking calmly to meet their death.”

Janusz Korczak developed his pedagogical concepts, pursued his writing career, conducted “The Old Doctor’s Talks” in the Polish Radio, worked as a teacher at the National Teacher Training Institute. For his outstanding job he was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He was also honored with the Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature. In 1940 his Orphanage was resettled to the Warsaw Ghetto. Despite having the possibility of escaping from the ghetto and saving his own life, he refused to leave the children.On August 5th 1942, together with the children and the educators of his orphanage he was deported from the Umschlagplatz to the concentration camp in Treblinka, where he was murdered in the gas chamber.

Irena Sendler

The Inauguration of the Year of Janusz Korczak – Ms Anna Komorowska, the First Lady of Poland and Mr Marek Michalak, the Ombudsman for Children, Poland

There are no children, only people

The core values of the Convention

Alicja Wojnarowska, 7 years old Primary School no. 5 in Dębica, 1st gradeDrawings of the winners of an art contest organized by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education – All equal – Human Rights in the Child’s Eyes

Nikola Bielawska, 10 years old Primary School in Pasym, 3rd gradeDrawings of the winners of an art contest organized by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education – All equal – Human Rights in the Child’s Eyes

Ombudsman for Children, Poland, Marek Michalak

The Convention on the Rights of the Child treats a child as a citizen, as a subject of the law, not its object. It recognizes that human rights are vested in every child, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. It places the child’s well-being as a priority for the parents, care givers and state authorities. The realization of children’s rights involves the imposition of legal obligations on parents and caretakers (i. a. the duty of education and support), and on the state authorities to assist parents and caregivers. Therefore, the Convention requires the authorities to maintain, for the proper development of children, such institutions as schools, kindergartens, community centers, playgrounds, libraries, clubs, health centers, hospitals, and others. The Convention obligates state authorities to firmly oppose all forms of violence against children.

“Children are sick of being called “the future”. They want to enjoy their childhoods, free of violence now.”

Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro – Commissioner and Rapporteur on Children at the Inter-

American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States.

“Years of work make it increasingly obvious[to me] that children deserve respect, confidence and kindness, that good is derived from them in the cheerful atmosphere of mild sensations, merry laughter, strenuous first efforts and surprises, pure, clear, lovable joys. Such work is lively, fruitful and attractive.” Janusz Korczak

“There appear to be two lives, one serious and respectable and another indulgently tolerated, less valuable. We say: a future person, a future worker, a future citizen. That children will be, that they will really begin to be serious only in the future.” Janusz Korczak

The Convention obliges States Parties to take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect children from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, as well as perform a preventive actions in this regard.

“The Convention on the Rights of the Child refers to many difficult issues, that have been covered by the activity of the Ombudsman for Children: child’s labor, violence against children, sexual harassment, the right to have contact with both parents, even if the parents do not live together.”

Mr Marek Michalak, the Ombudsman for Children, Poland

There are no children, only people

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

In 1979 Poland introduced to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights a draft of the Convention. Professor Adam Łopatka, Chairman/Rapporteur of the Working Group on a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child:For over 11 years of negotiations of the Convention, Poland was the leader of the process. On every stage of the process Poland introduced all decisions and resolutions to the United Nations organs (…). Members of the Working Group on a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child operated in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect for different opinions.

Children and dignitaries applauded after the warm remarks made by the UN Secretary-General, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, about the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Children from all around the world presented petitions from their countries - © UNICEF/NYHQ-3864/Ruby Mera

Maria Jaczyńska, 11 years old Primary School in Józefów, 4th gradeDrawings of the winners of an art contest organized by the PolishMinistry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education – All equal – Human Rights in the Child’s Eyes

“Politicians and legislators make substandard rules and decisions about children. But who would bother to ask children for their opinion or consent? Who is likely to take note of any advice or approval from such a naïve being? What can a child possibly have to say!”

Janusz Korczak

Children at the ceremony of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Professor Adam Łopatka, Chairman/Rapporteur of the Working Group on a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child: “Sometimes I was asked half seriously and even half derisively whether children – the beneficiaries of the Convention - participated in the work on the draft Convention and if so what were their proposals.(…) a group of Swedish children entered the hall where the Working Group was holding its meeting and submitted a petition written on a poster one meter wide and several meters long signed by approximately twelve thousand children. The petition contained support for the Convention and especially for Sweden’s proposal that children should not be called up for service in the armed forces or involved in armed conflicts.”

There are no children, only people

Celebration

Children at the ceremony of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, the UN Secretary-General, and Joseph N. Garba, the President of the forty-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly

Children at the ceremony of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Audrey Hepburn – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

Ceremony of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Professor Adam Łopatka – Chairman of the Working Group, Audrey Hepburn – UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Bob McGrath – “Sesame Street” actor, James P. Grant – UNICEF Executive Director

Professor Adam Łopatka, Chairman/Rapporteur of the Working Group on a draft Convention on the Rights of the Child:

“An hour after the Convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, thousands of children from all over the world gathered at UN Headquarters in New York in celebration. Officials such as the United Nations Secretary-General, the Executive Director of UNICEF, ambassadors and other representatives of organizations working in the field of culture and science participated in the ceremony. The children gathered there were obviously delighted to join in the celebrations marking a historic moment.”

There are no children, only people

Drawings of the winners of an art contest organized by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education

Maciej Kocik, 10 years old “Nasza Szkoła” Non-public Primary School in Opole, 4th grade

Agata Baran, 10 years old Primary School no. 8 in Żary, 3rd grade

Jakub Rutkowski, 7 years old Primary School in Pasym, 1st grade

Zofia Kręgielczak, 11 years old Primary School no. 2 in Gostyń, 5th grade

Marek Mioduszewski, 8 years old Primary School no. 14 in Gdańsk, 1st grade

Anna Orlińska, 9 years old Primary School no. 2 in Sochaczew, 4th grade

All equal - human rights in the child’s eyes