Salem State hosts conference on children's rights

Jun. 27—SALEM — The United States is evidently behind the times when it comes to children's human rights. A conference hosted by Salem State University last week sought to work toward changing that.

On Friday, faculty at Salem State and around the world closed out a virtual conference titled "Children's Human Rights in the USA," a three-day remotely held conference that began Wednesday. The event brought together close to 60 speakers presenting on different aspects of the overall discussion of children's rights.

The effort was led by Yvonne Vissing, a Healthcare Studies professor at Salem State and founding director of the school's Center for Childhood and Youth Studies.

"The United States is the only member of the United Nations that hasn't ratified its children's human rights treaty," Vissing said. "One hundred and ninety-three other countries have done so. The international data that looks at well-being, health, morbidity, guns, mental health... the U.S. is scoring toward the bottom, and it's because we don't have a children's human rights priority."

That may come as a surprise, especially given everything in the media about the protection of children in school.

But that's because everything in the media is looking at children from an adult perspective, Vissing said. As a result, the real humanity of the child is often sidetracked by what Vissing called "the adultification of childhood."

"Adults' needs come first, and you see this in Uvalde's case, where the police officers twiddled their thumbs deciding they didn't want to get hurt. In the meantime, children were being slaughtered," Vissing said. "This is part of the adultification of childhood, where adults are in charge of spinning the framework on childhood, about what they're like, and what they need.

"It's like with poverty, homelessness, transportation, access to WiFi... those things are very seldom thought to be children's issues, but they dramatically impact the lives of children and youth," Vissing continued. "There's a lot going on nationally that we could be focusing on, that makes this conference very timely."

Rebecca Hains, a media and communication professor at SSU, has focused for close to 20 years on how children are a target of pop culture investment. She recently co-authored a book titled "The Marketing of Children's Toys: Critical Perspectives on Children's Consumer Culture," and she hosted a discussion titled "Politics of Children's Toys and Media" on Wednesday.

"It's easy for children's needs and interests to be marginalized and thought of after adult human rights," Hains said. "Children as a category of people aren't in a position to do a lot of self-advocacy. Teens can, but younger children in particular aren't in a position to advocate for their own needs."

One way of spotlighting a lack of proper attention and advocacy in childhood can be seen in children who grow up to perpetrate major tragedies. The two most devastating recent mass shootings — one at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and the other an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas — were committed by 18-year-old men.

"There's a lot of folks who are very concerned about the violence in our media and how normalized violence is in the media that even younger children consume," Hains said. "These kids, they grow up and immediately go out and purchase guns at 18. These school shootings don't happen in a bubble — there's a broader culture where violence is regarded casually, and the media is one part of that."

By coming together for conversation and encouraging change, discussion about the human rights treaty's individual outcomes begin to spread as goals across communities, according to Vissing.

"We'll probably not be able to get the treaty confirmed, but we can do everything the treaty says," Vissing said. "We have lots of money to give to war and the military industrial complex. We have lots of billionaires now that are thriving and going to space. But where's their decisions to make children's care a priority?

"That's what we want to have the conversation about," Vissing continued. "You get what you pay for, and if you don't put in much for children, you aren't going to get much. If you invest heavily in them, you're going to reap significant, demonstrable rewards."

Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.

Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.