The Right Not to Lose Hope - Violence Against Children - East Asia ...

● THE RIGHT NOT TO LOSE HOPEchildren are banned or restricted from enteringshopping malls and viewed with suspicion when theydo, unless they obviously have money and are able toconsume. These conflicting discourses are bound tosend powerful messages to children, particularly thosewho do not have money to buy goods or to pay toenter recreational spaces that are the only truly definedspaces offered to children outside of their schoolsand homes. These messages speak of exclusion unlessthey can afford inclusion, of being status-less unlessthey already belong, and of disempowerment unlessthey can impose power. Yet, these discourses are rarelychallenged, but instead the choices that children makewithin the restricted space that we allow them areconstantly questioned.It is striking that children’s social and anti-socialbehaviours are so heavily watched and policed whenat the same time they are barely recognised as socialactors outside of the family or the school environment.Their lack of participation and control over their lives,over decisions that are made for them and on theirbehalf and over their environment mean that, on theone hand, children are treated as irresponsible andincapable human beings, ‘adults in waiting’ or ‘nonadults’,while on the other hand their every move,their location, and their behaviours are closely watchedand ruled by communities that want them to abideby their rules and behave as responsible citizens.As Matthews points out, “the non-involvement ofchildren, according to their maturing levels of interestand skill, creates citizens with little competence, whohave learnt since childhood that society comprisesthose who have responsibility, and those whodo not”. 85By being disenfranchised from their communities andprovided with few incentives to participate, childrenare given few if any opportunities to exercise theircitizenship skills and develop their sense of communalresponsibility and belonging. Instead, they are acutelyaware that they live in a world ruled by adults wheretheir views, ideas and solutions are not valued andwhere the choices they make on a daily basis are notrecognised. Through exclusion and criminalisation wereinforce their feeling of powerlessness and reducefurther their capacity to recognise options and exercisejudgement. They feel that they have “little controlin their lives and that their options are narrow. Thisfeeds into the mentality of ‘no choice’ and ‘I had to’presented by many young offenders as a reason fortheir behaviour.” 86 It also reinforces their sense ofunfairness and alienation in the ‘adult world’ whichcan, in turn, drive them even further into adoptingrisky and ‘anti-social’ behaviours.By restricting children’s social and spatial involvementin their communities and in their lives and by notrecognising and supporting their capacity to consideroptions we are, in effect, undermining their ability torespond to the situations and problems they face bymaking better choices. We discourage them fromseeking solutions, including solutions to the violenceand abuse they face or they perpetrate. We alienatethem from their communities and yet we demandthat they feel part of them and abide by their rules.We remove their opportunity to take responsibilityfor themselves and yet we are quick to attributeresponsibility to them when they do make what weconsider are the ‘wrong choices’ such as break thelaw or behave inappropriately. The reality is thatchildren do make choices, often in circumstanceswhere the only choices available to them are bleakand sometimes even dangerous.The recognition of children’s role as social actorswhen they come into conflict with the law must bemirrored by recognition of their role as members oftheir societies. Instead of relying on inappropriatecriminal justice responses that narrow even further theoptions available to them, we need to engage childrenin seeking their own solutions and determining theboundaries of their own behaviour towards others.This is precisely what socialisation is about. Childrenneed the opportunity to be recognised not just asvictims or as perpetrators but as individuals who aremembers of families, communities and societies;individuals who are facing multiple challenges andwho need to be empowered to respond to thesechallenges and to make better choices for themselvesand their communities.24