Our Youngest Committee? - The Lörrach Kinderclubs für UNICEF (Children's Club for UNICEF in Lörrach, Germany) : Ute Deseniss-Gros

Editors Note: Be sure to watch the lovely and heart-warming video below. Ute has asked that we include this story as her Christmas present to us all. The kids are wonderful - and we hope they will lead UNICEF for their generation.

From Ute Deseniss-Gros

We all keep in mind that implementation of the CRC needs to take two directions:

- 'bottom up' - which happens when children - even very young children - understand their rights and the CRC and become active advocates for their rights and the rights of others.

- 'top down' - which happens when those with political power truly care about children and exercise their political power to implement the CRC.

Here's the story of the Children's Club for UNICEF in Lörrach:

Nathan (8) and his friends started a support club for UNICEF and for Children’s Rights. Nearly all of them have a multi-cultural family background, with one or both parents coming from Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and of course Germany.

Nathan’s grandmother is the head of the UNICEF Volunteer Group in Lörrach. Both his grand-mother and his mother spend every Saturday at the central market Lörrach fundraising for UNICEF. Nathan and his friends are always a part of it. They help to distribute flyers, the CRC booklet, and organize a Happiness Circle, where children can win a small gift when they correctly answer a question related to Children’s Rights.

The children drew pictures, each depicting one child right. Assembled in a book, their pictures were presented at the Children’s Book Fair in November 2020. They also invented a game about children’s rights that can be played by children themselves or with their families.

The kids are ambitious and wrote to the German Children TV Channel, to be invited to speak about children’s rights.

Here is some of what the children have to say:

Nathan: This is my donkey Lilly. We have done a lot to promote children’s rights. We collect trash in the forest, and Lily carries it to the dump. Children have the right to a clean environment. My donkey Lilly would certainly want to have the right to express her views, because donkeys always have their own opinions! And children know best what children like.
Lara: I drew a pelican, because the environment is important to me.
Liv: I drew flamingos, because dance and music are important to me.
Lilian: I drew a fox; because everyone has the right to be clever, and get an education.
Sylvie: I drew a tortoise, because sometimes we simply need to be on ourselves.

Thanks to Detlef Palm for translation of the children's remarks.