Like many parents, Joseph Beckford took a relatively non-committal stance to the issue of children’s rights when it was raised by his 11-year-old daughter Kiara, who took an interest in an Instagram contest on the theme.
To enter the ‘We Have Rights’ video competition, Half-Way Tree Primary student Kiara needed to make a video of an original skit, poem, or song focusing on children’s rights in Jamaica and send the video via direct message to @equal_rights876, the Equal Rights and Justice (ERJ) page on Instagram.
“Little things like the right to play, you take for granted that children are to be allowed that, and sometimes we even get on them for playing too much, but to see in black and white that it’s an actual right made a big difference,” said Beckford.
The ‘We Have Rights’ competition was organised by the ERJ project at The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, with funding from the European Union in Jamaica and in partnership with the Child Protection and Family Services Agency and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association.
As for Beckford, he says that being armed with that deeper knowledge will help make him a better parent as Kiara gets set to transition to high school come September.
