Life Under Coronavirus: Children’s Views on their Experiences of their Human Rights

Abstract

Children have a right to have their views sought and given due weight on all matters affecting them, including at times of emergency and crisis. This article describes the process and findings of the ground-breaking CovidUnder19 survey (“Life Under Coronavirus”) which was co-designed with children for children, capturing the experiences of over 26,000 children in 137 countries as to the realisation of their human rights during the first six months of the covid-19 pandemic. Key findings are discussed through the lens of the crc’ s four general principles, read alongside children’s rights, inter alia, to education, play and to be protected from harm. It argues that governments and public bodies should have sought children’s views – not just because they were under an obligation to do so – but because such engagement, now and in crises to come, provides an early warning system that enables decision-makers to mitigate some of the adverse consequences of their responses for children and their rights.

The unequal impact of Covid‐19 on the lives and rights of the children of modern slavery survivors, children in exploitation and children at risk of entering exploitation

“…Highlighted in this literature in the fields of children's rights, children's geographies and social studies of childhood, is the way in which the crisis has shed light on and exacerbated pre‐existing inequalities both globally and locally. It has also ‘invisibilised’ children in the media, public spaces and policy debates (Cortés‐Morales et al, 2021 ) and children's voices have not been consulted in matters which have severely affected them (Bessell, 2021 ; Lundy et al, 2021 ; Million, 2021 ).…”

“…In the UK, as in other countries, these adverse impacts on children have not only been significant, but also differentiated across the country and the shocks have been unequally felt by children especially those experiencing poverty, migrant and asylum seeking children as well as those with disabilities (Lundy et al, 2021 ; Lynch & Kilkelly, 2021 ). As other pandemics such as Ebola, Zika, HIV/AIDS, SARS and H1N1 have demonstrated, the ensuing economic instability, quarantines, school closures and issues accessing healthcare can threaten human rights and facilitate the enslavement of people (Peterman et al, 2020 ).…”

“…However, the mental health impacts from the pandemic on children are likely to last for some time (Ford et al, 2021 ). Children's rights have been curbed more than those of adults such as their right to education, play, participation, association, assembly and a cultural life (Cortés‐Morales & Morales, 2021 ; Lundy et al, 2021 ). At times, children have been stigmatised in the media as ‘super spreaders’ of the virus responsible for the spread of Covid‐19 to more vulnerable members of a family or society (Lundy et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Children's rights have been curbed more than those of adults such as their right to education, play, participation, association, assembly and a cultural life (Cortés‐Morales & Morales, 2021 ; Lundy et al, 2021 ). At times, children have been stigmatised in the media as ‘super spreaders’ of the virus responsible for the spread of Covid‐19 to more vulnerable members of a family or society (Lundy et al, 2021 ). This has resulted in stricter measures being placed upon children (Cortés‐Morales & Morales, 2021 ).…”

The Impact of the Covid‐19 Global Health Pandemic in Early Childhood Education Within Four Countries

“…Policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic radically restricted mobility, with almost every country requiring children to remain within their households during lockdowns; education and other services were either stopped or, if available, often only through online learning (OECD, 2020b). Children's human rights experts have been considerably concerned that various lockdown measures, developed as emergency responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, have had negative impacts on children: While the restrictions importantly sought to protect rights to health, survival, and development, other rights regarding nutrition and education (through online schooling for example) appeared to take a secondary role, leading to profound short-and long-term repercussions (Lundy et al, 2021;Peleg et al, 2021). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was justified, in its preamble, because children needed "special safeguards" and care, and because children were living in "exceptionally difficult conditions" who needed "special consideration."…”