In 2019, we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In 2015, the United Nations (UN) committed to seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2030, we will be called upon to account for our progress in the fulfilment of these SDGs. What has been the progress for children in the implementation of these two important global commitments in the Small Island Developing States (SIDS)? It is already evident that the rights of large proportions of children are being violated every day (Goodman and Cook 2019; Korang-Okrah et al. 2019). It is also clear that achieving these goals by 2030 will be problematic for SIDS given their social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities (Mycoo 2018; United Nations Development Programme 2017):
Every child has the right to a fair chance in life. But around the world, millions of children are trapped in an intergenerational cycle of disadvantage that endangers their futuresâand the future of their societies.1
A large proportion of children whose futures are endangered live in SIDS. To achieve sustainable development, SIDS must depend heavily on the enhancement of their human resources in order to break the cycle of dependency, poverty and inequality. If investment in children is inadequate, then the returns from that investment will be insufficient to attain sustainable development. While the adoption of the CRC has resulted in increased attention on children, they face several vulnerabilities every day, with some groups needing immediate attention. Thirty years after the CRC and with twelve years more to âcatch upâ and reach the targets set by the UN 2030 Agenda, it is an opportune moment to analyse the progress made for children in SIDS.
Using primary and secondary data, the book examines childhood in four Caribbean SIDSâBarbados, Haiti, Jamaica and St. Lucia. Primary data were collected in Jamaica fromAlthough the samples are unrepresentative, they present informative indications of the issues that the children experience in Caribbean SIDS. Data from the 2016 national Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC) were also analysed to examine the disparities among children living in poverty and those who do not. The research topics presented by child researchers at the annual Caribbean Child Research Conference held in 2006â2017 were examined to determine the main issues that concerned children in Jamaica. Similar studies were not completed for the other countries under discussion due to cost constraints, and the discussion on childhood in Barbados and Haiti depends heavily on secondary data.
- 103 high school children,
- 10 senior citizens,
- 10 recently released mothers and
- elite interviews with childrenâs advocates in St. Lucia and Jamaica
One of the limitations of using secondary data is that very recent data are not always available for all the Caribbean countries under discussion. The analysis of this data seeks to provide sociological answers to the following main research questions:
- 1.What are the definitions, perceptions and experiences of âchildrenâ and âchildhoodâ in Caribbean SIDS?
- 2.What theories best explain the nature of childhood in Caribbean SIDS?
- 3.How can we transform childhood in Caribbean SIDS?
The countries in focus were specifically selected because they represent various levels of human development with Barbados at the top of the scale and Haiti, at the bottom. Their societies have also been shaped by distinct cultural characteristics even though they share some common historical experiences.
The book consists of nine chapters. Chapter 1 provides an outline of the main international regional and local commitments to children. Chapter 2 reviews the SIDS debate and some of the main theories of childhood, ending with a presentation of the main elements of a theory of endangerment of childhood in Caribbean SIDS. Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 provide a more in-depth analysis of childhood and the status of children in these four Caribbean SIDS by analysing both secondary data from international, regional and local databases, and primary data from quantitative and qualitative studies carried out by the researcher. Chapter 8 provides examples of children who have broken the cycle of endangerment while Chap. 9 summarizes the main findings and presents the authorâs theory of transformation of childhood in SIDS. This first chapter sets the contexts in which Child Policy Agendas have been implemented in the four countries in focus. We begin with an examination of the emergence of a Global Child Agenda.
The Growth of the International Child Agenda
None of the International Conventions and Agreements pertaining to children originated in the Caribbean. International focus on children began in the developed countries, mainly at sessions of the United Nations. From as early as 1919, international attention focused on children with the establishment of the Save the Children Fund. By 1924, the League of Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child (also known as the World Child Welfare Charter). The United Nations Childrenâs Fund (UNICEF) was founded in 1946, and in 1959, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child.
The year 1970 was declared the International Year of Education and there was international focus on the provision of education and the improvement of existing facilities in developing countries. Education was seen as the tool to stimulate significant economic and social change (UNICEF 2014). The 1974 international conference focused on the inter-relationship between development and population concerns,2 and the year was declared World Population Year. The conference highlighted the need to ensure that population policies and issues formed an integral part of socio-economic development policies.3
In 1975, women were recognized in a year declared International Womenâs Year. The international conference on women held in Mexico in 1975 discussed a broad range of issues that affected women globall...