Children’s spirituality and children’s rights

The role of religion in public and political life has been historically underplayed since the European Enlightenment. Yet there is increasing evidence of the importance of religion and spirituality in post‐Cold War public and political life (Smart, 1969, 1989; Casanova, 1994; Woodhead et al., 2002; Ward, 2003; Jackson, 2003, 2004; Gearon, 2002, 2004, 2006). In a European context, following the Reformation and resultant wars of religion, the ‘Enlightenment’ encouraged freedom of religion, thought and expression, and one of the defining political implications of this was separation of Church (or religion) and State, as in the case of France and the United States in the eighteenth centuries. The post‐Enlightenment separation of Church and State presented the groundwork for a wider marginalization of religion in public life, often defined as ‘secularization’, a marginalization to the private sphere which failed fully to materialize (see Ward, 2003). As readers of the International Journal of Children Spirituality will recognize, the growth in interest non‐formal, non‐traditional forms of religious, psychological, existential beliefs and practices is in large measure a result of an increased emphasis upon the private and the personal (especially the experiential) and a wider interest in spirituality.

The relationship between, on the one hand, political power and public life and, and on the other, religious or spiritual belief and practice remains complex. Each nation state presents particular historical and cultural issues and circumstances, for example around freedom of religion or belief, with infringements monitored by government, inter‐governmental agencies and non‐government organizations; in all their constant reminders that religion and spirituality continue to have public as well as private dimensions (Gearon, 2002, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2006d, 2006e). This Themed Issue is about examining some of the public aspects of spirituality, specifically focusing upon citizenship, particularly human rights and specifically children’s rights. Situations of acute and chronic conflict often accentuate the issues, and expert analyses of contrasting perspectives are presented by Mark Halstead and Saida Jaser Affouneh ‘Educating the human spirit in times of conflict: the case of emergency education in Palestine’ and Elana Sztokman ‘To be an Arab Jewish girl in a state religious school in Israel: navigating gender, ethnicity, and class’.

In terms of conflict over religious, ethnic, cultural and spirituality identities, 11 September 2001 is often cited as a turning point or benchmark in a newly emergent situation that seems to undermine the relatively unchallenged secularization thesis, notably by suggesting that what is done in the name of religion or spiritual tradition has an irremediably public and political dimension. Yet some time before 11 September 2001, religion and associated rights of religion or belief were seen as a barometer of wider democratic freedoms by the United States. For example, the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act made it a requirement for the US secretary of State to publish an annual report on religious freedom worldwide. Essentially, the US Department of State clearly continues to link freedom of religion or belief with the other democratic freedoms, providing country‐by‐country and comprehensive worldwide accounts of religious freedoms, the infringements of and improvements in relation to such rights to belief (http://www.house.gov/international_relations and follow links; cf. Shattuck, 2003).

There are also a number of further, independent indicators that highlight the importance of freedom of religion or belief in global governance, where religion and rights are seen as a barometer of wider democratic freedoms (Marshall, 2000; also http://www.freedomhouse.org). The Freedom House global survey reviewed the state of religious freedom in the majority of the world’s countries, providing useful snapshot insights into the political context of religious life in each; its database presents a worldwide survey of freedom of religion or belief, and is a valuable reference to key geo‐political (including educational) contexts, presenting information on religious freedom by area and by tradition.

The United Nations system has itself incorporated and defined freedom of religion or belief (importantly including provision for all aspects of spirituality) since the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, notably in Articles 2 and 26 but especially Article 18. The latter states that, ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of: thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.’ But the early history of the UN tended to downplay religious and ideological diversity. Article 18 is the basis for the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (1981).

Thus after a long low‐level treatment, the UN system began to recognize the international significance of religion for a stable world order (cf. Lerner, 2000; Berg Harpviken & Eggen Roilien, 2005). During the 1990s—notably post‐Cold War where intense nationalism coincided with bitter struggles over cultural and ethnic identities—religion emerges explicitly in numerous international statements, gaining new and unprecedented prominence, for instance:

•	Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (18 December 1992)
•	Oslo Declaration on Freedom of Religion or Belief (1998)
•	UN Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Discrimination (Durban, September, 2001)
•	UN Conference on Religion and Education (Madrid, November 2001)

For full texts, follow links at http://www.unhchr.org

There was also the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990), and the Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel (1993).

The notion of freedom of religion was itself extended to freedom of non‐religious (for example, a diversity of spiritual) worldviews in 1981 and 1998 Declarations, the ‘or belief’ in both being significant. Most notable is the now integral connection of religious intolerance to the ending of racism, xenophobia and discrimination more broadly. Thus, the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief was followed just over a decade later by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities (1992). In turn, this has had the effect of linking directly the way rights of ‘freedom of thought, conscience and religion’ to ‘later’ or ‘third generation’ rights of ‘human solidarity’, concerned with specific groups—women, children, indigenous peoples, religious traditions—rather than generic ‘civic and political’ (‘first’ generation) or ‘cultural and economic’ (‘second’ generation) rights (Wellman, 2000).

The notion of third generation of rights affecting specific groups of citizen is very directly pertinent to this Themed Issue. For, the growth of interest in the rights of specific religious traditions and cultures, and the rights for individuals to pursue individual freedom of religion or belief coincides with the international development of a global movement for children’s rights. Empirical and policy considerations of such international developments are presented through UK case studies by Jacqueline Watson ‘The Every Child Matters initiative and children’s rights: recognizing children’s well‐being; listening to children’, John I’Anson and Julie Allen ‘Children’s rights in practice: a study of change within a primary school’.

The Summit for Children (New York, May 2002) was a meeting of the UN General Assembly dedicated to the children and adolescents of the world. Providing an opportunity to review progress in the lives of children in the decade since the 1990 World Conference on Children, it brought together government leaders and Heads of State, NGOs, representatives of major UN bodies as well as children themselves at the United Nations. One of the statements arising from the Conference was the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children (see http://www.unicef.org, and links). The adopted plan of action related to this Declaration committed participants to carefully timed targets for achieving improvements in the lives of children around the globe. It resulted in the Global Movement for Children, designed to be a platform for action to provide a united voice for all those working throughout the world to improve the lives of children. Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel (the latter wrote an important UN Report in 1996 on children and armed conflict) were among those calling for partnerships between governments, civil society and the private sector to form a global movement committed to ending discrimination against children. One of our contributors to this issue—Annemie Dillon—examines the important role of parents in this context, in her article, ‘Children between liberation and care: ethical perspectives on the rights of children and parent–child relationships’. Those committed to spiritual education in more formal settings might usefully attend to Anne Kennedy’s reflections on teacher’s understanding of spiritual education, ‘Children’s spirituality: New Zealand teachers’ perceptions’.

There are a range of children’s rights’ conventions and declarations before and since the pivotal Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), for instance:

•	Declaration on the Rights of the Child (20 November 1959)
•	Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally (3 December 1986)
•	Convention on the Rights of the Child (20 November 1989, into effect 2 September 1990)
•	United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of the Liberty (14 December 1990)
•	United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The Riyadh Guidelines) (14 December 1990)
•	Optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (25 May 2000, into effect 12 February 2002)
•	Optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (25 May 2000, into effect 18 January 2002)

For full texts of these documents, follow related links at http://www.un.hchr.org; also http://www.unesco.org; http://www.unicef.org.uk; and, in a European context, how children’s rights and related issues have been integrated in Council of Europe’s 2005 European Year of Citizenship through Education, including a review of research in citizenship and Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC), http://www.coe.int/edc; also, http://www.eurydice.org; cf. UNICEF (2000); UN (2002).

In this disparate context of children’s rights, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child remains the most single ratified of all UN conventions.

While the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality is enduring testimony to the work undertaken by practitioners and researchers in spirituality in education and directly children’s spirituality, very little work has been done which looks at the implications of these worldwide, historical changes in the role of religion and spirituality in global governance as they relate to education, especially in regard to children as citizenship and particularly the question of children’s rights (cf. the systematic EPPI review of citizenship at http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk, and links, or Osler & Starkey, 2006). Beyond benign neglect, the term and points of reference for spirituality in education are not above or beyond direct attack, and Roger Marples presents such a philosophical critique, ‘Against (the use of the term) “Spiritual Education”’ which is a reminder that there remain thinkers within the broad field of education who are openly antagonistic to any notion of spiritual education; a move characteristic of secularizers and the same motivating force behind the European Enlightenment referred to in the opening.

Indeed, even in regard to human rights education, little curriculum development work has been undertaken linking citizenship and religion or spirituality. http://www.un.org is arguably one of the most underused resources in global education. Responses to the UN survey over States worldwide initiative during the International Decade of Human Rights Education international educational initiatives, including curricula incorporating human rights within values education can be found at http://ap.ohchr.org/documents. Amongst the most current sources where inroads have been made into curriculum developments in religion and spirituality in political context is the UNESCO‐commended Oslo Coalition for Freedom of Religion or Belief, specifically its international collation of curriculum and pedagogical innovations, ‘Teaching for Tolerance and Freedom of Religion or Belief’ (http://www.hri.ca, and follow links; cf. Lindholm et al., 2003).

Dr Liam Gearon, founder and former‐Director, Centre for Research in Human Rights, and presently Reader in Education, School of Education, and Senior Fellow, Crucible, School of Business and Social Sciences, Roehampton University, London SW15 5PH, UK. Email: [email protected]