Monday, 28 October 2013

Pax Dei—Living in Peace 2

Pre-Natal Peace for Humans
Ashling Gabrielle O'Donnell:
A post-natal human  who was once a pre-natal human.

...“the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”...
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Convention on the Rights of the Child,adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, November 20, 1989 http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

It seems that the world community has declared, 
in an internationally binding treaty,
that children, like their parents, 
are humans both before their birth and after their birth,
 and hence are entitled to human rights.
*****
.
Pax Dei
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
.
.
 Notes:
“The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too….By agreeing to undertake the obligations of the Convention (by ratifying or acceding to it), national governments have committed themselves to protecting and ensuring children's rights and they have agreed to hold themselves accountable for this commitment before the international community. States parties to the Convention are obliged to develop and undertake all actions and policies in the light of the best interests of the child.”  (from the UNICEF website: http://www.unicef.org/crc/)
.
Currently, 193 countries are party to this Convention, including every member of the United Nations except Somalia, South Sudan, and the United States.
http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en:

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