Involving children more

adminonNovember 24, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Should children's rights be included in the Basic Law? © VGstockstudio (shutterstock)

Several associations demanded over the weekend that children's rights be anchored in the Basic Law. The occasion was this year's World Children's Day on Friday. The FDP, on the other hand, was skeptical.

On Sunday, parties for girls and boys were held in Berlin and Cologne with, according to organizers, a total of about 200.000 visitors as well as in other places. The German Children's Fund and Unicef Germany underscored the demand that "all children must be better informed about their rights, that they must be taken more seriously and that they must be more involved in shaping our society".

This must go hand in hand with an improvement in the legal position of children in Germany, especially by anchoring children's rights in the Basic Law. Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht and Family Minister Franziska Giffey (both SPD) also renewed their call for children's rights to be enshrined in the Basic Law.

"Include children's rights in the constitution"

The president of the German Child Protection League, Heinz Hilgers, expressed similar views. "In order to have a good constitutional basis for further steps, we need protection rights for our children, promotion rights for children, participation rights for children and the priority of the best interests of the child," Hilgers told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (Saturday). "These are the four points that we must include in the Basic Law. Otherwise it makes no sense."

Participation rights are also important with regard to cases of sexual abuse, he added. For example, he said, the boy who had been abused for years in Staufen, near Freiburg, had not even been heard, either by the administration or by the judiciary. "This must be possible, and it must be possible independently of the parents."

FDP: Strengthen parents, not the state

FDP parliamentary group vice chairman Stephan Thomae was skeptical. Such an amendment to the Basic Law could strengthen the role of the state through the back door at the expense of the rights of parents and children, he writes in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung".

It would be better to insert children's rights as a sort of "serving" fundamental right, precisely to make it clear that parents have a special responsibility for their children and must promote and protect their welfare. State and society should be explicitly not mentioned. Thomae specifically suggested the phrase "parents serve the welfare and rights of children".

On Sunday, another 90 or so people came to the.000 people at the grand closing service. The 35. German Protestant Kirchentag in Stuttgart is history. What remains of the Christian meeting?

Sunday, 7. June 2015: The German Protestant Church Congress (DEKT) ends with a church service at the Cannstatter Wasen in Stuttgart. Some 300 kilometers to the southeast, the G7 summit of the most powerful economic nations begins at Elmau Castle in Bavaria. As far as the media presence of the major events was concerned, it was the same as with the thunderclouds that appeared here and there in front of the sun in the midsummer heat of Stuttgart. The Kirchentag in the Swabian metropolis rutted by the "Stuttgart 21" train station construction project was somewhat overshadowed by the politicians' meeting in the luxury resort at the foot of the Alps.

Cool heads despite heat

The approximately 97.000 permanent participants and 37.000 day visitors kept their cool despite record-breaking temperatures beyond 30 degrees. The sweaty heat "dripped easily" on the Kirchentag goers, organizers reported. "so that we may become wise" was the motto of the meeting. Even if perhaps some from the abundance of 2.500 events, I couldn't quite figure it out: There were them, the moments of insight. As well as insights into current political and social debates.

German President Joachim Gauck encouraged greater confidence, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) discussed the digital transformation, her Vice Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) commented on the TTIP transatlantic free trade agreement, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere (CDU) spoke out on church asylum. The topic of homosexuals and the church was on the agenda, as was the dialogue between religions. There were peace demonstrations and – reminiscent of "Stuttgart 21" – protest events under the title "Can train stations be a sin??".

Positive outcome

Even if never all can share everything: For the organizers, the Kirchentag more than met expectations as a forum for encounter and exchange. She has noticed a "new thoughtfulness," said DEKT Secretary General Ellen Ueberschar. The chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, was "inspired" and "enthusiastic". The local bishops, Frank Otfried July of Wurttemberg and his Catholic brother, Bishop Gebhard Furst of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, expressed similar sentiments. "Where else can you find such courageous and serious debates about the important ies of our time?", asked Prince.

Church and Catholic Days – they are also an opportunity for contemplation and silence. Tens of thousands made morning pilgrimage to Bible studies. The events, at which prominent figures from church and society interpret texts from the Old and New Testaments, are traditionally part of the program. Among others, the chairman of the Catholic German Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the prime minister of Baden-Wurttemberg, Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), and the former chairwoman of the EKD Council, Margot Kabmann, also attended the event.

Also resonates with Catholic Church

The House of the Catholic Church on Stuttgart's main shopping boulevard, Konigstrasse, met with a surprisingly large response. Above all, the "Room of Silence" attracted many people in the midst of the hustle and bustle and the heat. A similar atmosphere prevailed in and around the Berger Church. There the ecumenical association had pitched its tents ?other times?. Even celebrities such as Federal Family Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) made a detour there.

The joint appearance of Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan brought goosebumps of a different kind. In the Hanns Martin Schleyer Hall, which was filled to capacity, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate appealed in a low voice not to lose faith in big politics – and to become active in order to fight for justice in the world. Actually not a bad message with regard to the G7 summit. At the end of the speech, the audience rose from their seats. Standing ovation for Kofi Annan.

Remembering victims of sexual exploitation

Against oblivion: Women's rights activists have erected a plaque on the grounds of a Catholic church in Manila commemorating the women who were victims of sexual exploitation by the Japanese occupation army during World War II.

Women's rights activists have erected a memorial plaque on the grounds of a Catholic church in Manila for the women who were victims of sexual exploitation by the Japanese occupying army during World War II. The pastor of the Redemptorist Church Mother of Perpetual Help, Father Teodulo Holgado, stressed that it is "just and right to remember the Filipinos who suffered during the war," the Asian Catholic news service Ucanews reported Monday. This applies "especially to the thousands of 'comfort women' who are still waiting for justice," the Redemptorist priest said.

Holgado and his church are known in Manila for their commitment to the poor, social justice and their rejection of President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war.

Only memorial in the Philippines to commemorate "comfort women"

The plaque on the grounds of Baclaran Church, considered a national shrine, is currently the only memorial in the Philippines commemorating the "comfort women," according to Ucanews. The statue of a "comfort woman" was removed by Philippine authorities in April 2017 from a boulevard on Manila Bay to make way for a drainage project. The sculpture has since been considered lost. On 30. December 2018, another statue of a "comfort woman" on the grounds of the Mary Mother of Mercy Catholic Home for the Elderly in Laguna province was removed after an intervention by Japan.

"Comfort women" is the euphemistic term for victims of forced prostitution by the Japanese military in East Asia. According to estimates, about 200.000 girls and women had to make themselves available for Japanese soldiers in Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, East Timor and the Dutch Indies between 1937 and 1945, according to the Society for Threatened Peoples.

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