Childhood and Adolescence Defined Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence.

Childhood consists of two stages: preoperational stage and concrete operational stage. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood (learning to walk), early childhood (play age), middle childhood (school age), and adolescence (puberty through post-puberty). Various childhood factors could affect a person's attitude formation. This is the time for children to be in school and at play, to grow strong and confident with the love and encouragement of their family and an extended community of caring adults. In this age children live free from fear, safe from violence and protected from abuse and exploitation. As such, childhood means much more than just the space between birth and the attainment of adulthood. It refers to the state and condition of a childs life, to the quality of those years. Adolescence (from Latin: adolescere meaning "to grow up")is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development generally occurring during the period from puberty to legal adulthood (age of majority). The period of adolescence is most closely associated with the teenage years, though its physical, psychological and cultural expressions can begin earlier and end later. For example, although puberty has been historically associated with the onset of adolescent development, it now typically begins prior to the teenage years and there have been a normative shift of it occurring in preadolescence, particularly in females (see early and precocious puberty). Physical growth, as distinct from puberty (particularly in males), and cognitive development generally seen in adolescence, can also extend into the early twenties. Thus chronological age provides only a rough marker of adolescence, and scholars have found it difficult to agree upon a precise definition of adolescence. A thorough understanding of adolescence in society depends on information from various perspectives, most importantly from the areas of psychology, biology, history, sociology, education, and anthropology. Within all of these perspectives, adolescence is viewed as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, whose cultural purpose is the preparation of children for adult roles. It is a period of multiple transitions involving education, training, employment and unemployment, as well as transitions from one living circumstance to another. The end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood varies by country and by function, and furthermore even within a single nation state or culture there can be different ages at which an individual is considered to be (chronologically and legally) mature enough to be entrusted by society with certain privileges and responsibilities. Such milestone include, but are not limited to, driving a vehicle, having legal sexual relations, serving in the armed forces or on a jury, purchasing and drinking alcohol, voting, entering into contracts, finishing certain levels of education, and marriage. Adolescence is usually accompanied by an increased independence allowed by the parents or legal guardians and less supervision as compared to preadolescence. In popular culture, adolescent characteristics are attributed to physical changes and what is called raging hormones. There is little evidence that this is the case, however. In studying adolescent development, adolescence can be defined biologically, as the physical transition marked by the onset of puberty and the termination of physical growth; cognitively, as changes in the ability to think abstractly and multi-dimensionally; or socially, as a period of preparation for adult roles. Major pubertal and biological changes include changes to the sex organs, height, weight, and muscle mass, as well as major changes in brain structure and organization. Cognitive advances encompass both increases in knowledge and in the ability to think abstractly and to reason more effectively. The study of adolescent development often involves interdisciplinary collaborations. For example, researchers in neuroscience or bio-behavioral health might focus on pubertal changes in brain structure and its effects on cognition or social relations. Sociologists interested in adolescence might focus on the acquisition of social roles (e.g., worker or romantic partner) and how this varies across cultures or social conditions. Developmental psychologists might focus on changes in relations with parents and peers as a function of school structure and pubertal status. Rights of Children in Domestic and International Law The dominant statute governing the position of children in the UK is the Children Act 1989. This act sets out the fundamental premise of decisions taken in relation to children, which is the welfare principle. This provides that where decisions involving children are to be taken, the best interests of the children are the paramount consideration. The welfare principle has historically guided the development of childrens law in the UK, and is the most significant restriction on childrens autono my and ability to exercise their rights independently. It is addressed in more detail below. As the law has developed in the UK the wishes and feelings of children themselves have been increasingly recognized to be of significance. The recognition of childrens rights to participate in decision-making processes is increasingly central to legislative reform relating to children. Further to the governments Every Child Matters agenda, The Childrens Act (CA) 2004 received royal assent in November 2004. The 2004 act codified five outcomes for children, being their rights to: Be healthy

Stay safe Enjoy and achieve Make a positive contribution Achieve economic well-being Concern has been expressed at the governments codification of childrens rights into outcome goals that are open to wide interpretation, as opposed to the adoption (for example) of the rights set out within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (see below). The CA 2004 created a Childrens Commissioner, and imposed enforceable duties on local authorities and other relevant bodies such as the police, NHS health services etc to work together in the provision of childrens services. Every Childs Services Authority (local authority) is required to publish a Children and Young Peoples Plan. This plan should show how the authority intends to enable children in their area to meet the five outcomes, and must be regularly reviewed. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has been incorporated into UK law, and is relevant to the rights of children and young people in much the same way as it is to those of adults. In addition, where the ECHR rights of a competent child are infringed simply by reason of their being a child, the anti-discrimination provisions in Article 14 may be applicable. International Law The other significant convention with respect to childrens rights is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The UNCRC has been ratified by all countries other than the US and Somalia, making it the most widely recognized international instrument in the world. The UNCRC gives children a comprehensive set of economic, cultural, social and political rights. It also provides that childrens best interests are to be a primary consideration for policy and decision makers and that the evolving capacity of children must be factored into law and policy. Article 12 of the UNCRC requires that childrens views must be sought and given due weight i n all matters affecting children. Although the UK ratified the UNCRC in 1991, it has not been directly incorporated into UK law. This means that a child cannot rely directly on the provisions of UNCRC in court, although it will have some persuasive weight. Despite pressure to incorporate the UNCRC into UK law, the government has not done so. The UK must report to the UNCRC supervisory body the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (the UN Committee) every five years. The report should deal with the ways in which the signatory is giving effect to the UNCRC. The government is preparing the latest report, which is due in July 2007. Following receipt of the report the UN Committee comments on the level of Government compliance with the UNCRC, making recommendations on the action to be taken by the UK in order to make la, policy and practice compliant with the UNCRC. The last report from the UN Committee was in October 2002, and was highly critical of a range of UK laws and practices. In 2006 the Childrens Rights Alliance noted that the UK had made significant progress in relation to only 12 of the 78 recommendations made. Equality Act 2006 The Equality Act 2006 establishes a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights, which obliged to promote awareness, understanding and best practice in human rights. The UNCRC is not specifically referenced in the Equality Act, although the Minister gave an assurance during the Bills passage through Parliament that the human rights referred to in the bill included those conferred by UNCRC. While the elimination of discrimination against children was dropped as an Every Child Matters outcome, the Equality Act imposes an obligation on public bodies to encourage positive relations between communities. Children are a specific community for this purpose, and this provision may have some application in relation to (eg) discriminatory media reporting against children and young people. Office of the Childrens Commissioner The general function of the Office of the Childrens Commissioner (OCC) is to promote the awareness of the views and the interests of children. The OCC is the only statutory body with a stated duty to have regard to the provisions of the UNCRC. Concern has been expressed as the extent of the English Commissioners independence; he is accountable to the Secretary of

State for Education, rather than to Parliament. Unlike the Commissioners for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the English Commissioner is required to consult the Secretary of State before undertaking an inquiry. The OCC cannot undertake casework on behalf of children or investigate individual cases. However, it can act as a referral body for cases which fall within the remit of the newly created Commission for Equality and Human Rights. The OCC is in the process of establishing a scheme to conduct child impact assessments on proposed UK legi slation. The aim of these assessments will be to provide an analysis of likely effect of the legislation on the rights and interests of children and young people. The weight that Parliament will give such assessments remains to be seen. Summary of the Current Situation of the Filipino Youth (from 2010) The Philippine population is predominantly young. The 2007 census of population registered an almost half (43.3 percent) of the countrys population as children.1 Children as defined by international law are those below 18 years of age. In absolute terms, this percentage represents 38.2 million of the 88.6 million total Philippine population in 2007. Given the 2.04 percent annual population growth rate between 2000 and 2007, it is estimated that the child population in the country will reach 40 million in 2010. 2 Of this total, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), in its 2009 study of poverty and wellbeing of children in the Philippines estimates the number of children in income poverty at 40.8 percent of the population in 2006 or about 14.4 million poor children.3 The same study says poverty is highest among children of fisher folk, farmers, migrants and formal sector workers and is worse in rural than in urban areas. Another study done by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in 2009 adopted the UNICEF expanded definition of child poverty to include not only income-based poverty but also deprivation from access to opportunities to develop self-esteem and other psychological needs, deprivation from basic services such as electricity, potable water, sanitary toilet, health, education and other basic social services.4 With that expanded concept of child poverty, the definition has included children who are victims of discrimination and exclusion, thus explaining the significantly large size of child poverty in the country. On top of rapidly increasing child population and child poverty are two other phenomena in the Philippine setting that greatly impact on children. These are rapid urbanization and the continuing armed conflict ict in Mindanao. A paper prepared by Mary Racelis and Angela Desiree Aguirre published by the Institute for Philippine Culture (IPC) in 2005 states that with rapid urbanization, the situation of urban poor children deserves urgent attention. Some 8.4 million poor Filipinos live in urban informal settlements of major Philippine cities, namely, Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao. About half of them are children. Given that the countrys urban population is now close to 50 percent and about half of this are children, one can imagine the tremendous strain on services meant to ensure the survival, development, protection and participation of children. The Racelis study cites that among the common and daunting manifestations of poverty in urban slums and informal settlements are hunger, malnutrition, ill-health, overcrowding, unhealthy and unsafe environments, no-play space, school dropouts, gangs, drugs, abuse and exploitation, insecurity of land tenure, dilapidated housing, unemployment, inadequate family income, and dysfunctional families, among others. Researchers View I was stationed in Manila since I started working there in 2008, and I am a witness to the poverty of its youth, not only physically and financially, but also with morality. And for the last 4 years, I havent witnessed any improvements as what most of the surveys I read says. And as I came back here in the province, I thought that with the new buildings means our province is also doing its best, but it seems that Im wrong. With this issue, I always remember what my idol and mentor always told me as we are having our drinks: Its like the current generation is being misled. Technologies are there, tools are there for us to improve but it seems that instead of going up, we are plunging down. We need those people who will lift our current situation or our nation could end up a wasteland. And I think education is one of the solutions. I hope that a generation will rise who will lead the young generation to the right direction. I hope so too.

Sources:

Wikipedia 2010 State of the Filipino Children Report, Child Friendly Governance: Focus on Resource Allocation, by: Council for the Welfare of Children, Republic of the Philippines

Prepared by: Tam Gerald Calzado