A Child's Right to a Healthy Environment PDF
Preview A Child's Right to a Healthy Environment
A Child’s Right to a Healthy Environment The Loyola University Symposium on the Human Rights of Children Series editor: James Garbarino (Loyola University, Chicago, IL, USA) For other titles published in this series, go to www.springer.com/series/7885 James Garbarino Garry Sigman ● Editors A Child’s Right to a Healthy Environment Editors James Garbarino Garry Sigman Center for the Human Rights of Children Stritch School of Medicine Department of Psychology Maywood, IL Loyola University USA 1032 W Sheridan Rd [email protected] 119 Coffey Hall Chicago, IL 60660 USA [email protected] ISBN 978-1-4419-6789-3 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-6791-6 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-6791-6 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2010936454 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface This volume resulted from the inaugural Symposium of the Loyola University Center for the Human Rights of Children, held in April 2008, in Chicago. The theme of the Symposium was “The Right to a Healthy Environment.” Each of the chapters contained within this volume was presented at the Symposium and each is offered here to contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of the meaning, significance, challenges to, and implementation of the human rights approach to important issues in the health and well-being of children and youth. Children’s rights are human rights. As a Jesuit University, Loyola has a special obligation in matters of human rights, particularly as a reflection of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ principle that “…human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities met.” The Loyola University Center for the Rights of Children exists to represent, coordinate, and stimulate efforts of the University community to understand, protect, and apply the human rights of children in the face of injustice and poverty of body, mind, and spirit. It seeks guidance and inspiration from the tradition of Catholic teachings on social justice (“the passion which animates Roman Catholic social thought is a feel- ing of affective solidarity with aggrieved people”) as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the global movement for children’s rights that the Convention represents. It does so with respect for the rights and responsibilities of parents, teachers, and other caregivers entrusted with raising children. As articulated by Loyola President Fr. Michael Garanzini, the framework for the Center’s work flows from the University’s mission: “Our commitment to address the challenges of social inequality and social injustice around the belief that faith and the desire for human progress come from the same root within our human natures … It demands that we engage and challenge one another to examine and change the conditions that promote injustice and victimize ourselves and others.” And it asks us to “remember the delicate way that faith can be used to assist us in opening our minds, not closing them, as so often appears to be the case when reli- gious thinking comes into play.” Loyola’s efforts to work within this framework are manifest in three principal ways: “through the curriculum, through our research and attempts to influence leaders and policy makers, and through our direct encounter with victims of injustice and the systems that promote, even in unwittingly, dehu- manization and injustice.” v vi Preface Beyond these general imperatives, the Jesuit commitment to higher education has more specific mandates (as articulated by Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, The Superior General of the Order of the Society of Jesus, commenting upon “Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education”). * “Personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is the catalyst for solidarity which then gives rise to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection…. Students in the course of their formation, must let the gritty reality of this world into their lives, so they can learn to feel it, think about it critically, respond to its suffering, and engage it constructively…. They should learn to perceive, think, judge, choose and act for the rights of others, especially the disadvantaged and the oppressed.” * “Every discipline, beyond its necessary specialization, must engage with human society, human life, and the environment in appropriate ways, cultivating moral concern about how people ought to live together…Adopting the point of view of those who suffer injustice, our professors seek the truth and share their search and its results with our students.…To make sure that the real concerns of the poor find their place in research, faculty members need an organic collaboration with those in the Church and in society who work among and for the poor and actively seek justice….when faculty do take up inter-disciplinary dialogue and socially-engaged research in partnership with social ministries, they are exemplifying and modeling knowledge which is service, and students learn by imitating them as ‘masters of life and moral commitment’…” By launching the Loyola University Symposium on the Human Rights of Children, the Center has sought to bring this Jesuit commitment to fruition in the academic community. Designed as a biennial program, it brings together scholars, advocates, practitioners, and students from Loyola University and around the world to present and discuss their work in understanding and advancing the human rights of chil- dren. We hope this volume contributes to this process. About the Editors James Garbarino is the founding Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago; the current Maude C. Clarke Chair in Humanistic Psychology. Before arriving at Loyola, he was Cornell University’s Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professor of Human Development and codirector of the Family Life Development Center. He received his bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University and a doctorate in human development and family studies from Cornell University. From 1985 to 1994, he was President of the Erikson Institute for Advanced Study in Child Development. Dr. Garbarino has served as a consultant to a wide range of organizations, including the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, the National Institute for Mental Health, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He also serves as an expert witness in criminal and civil cases involving issues of violence and children. Books he has authored or edited include: Children and the Dark Side of Human Experience: A Spiritual Memoir, See Jane Hit: Why Girls Are Growing More Violent and What We Can Do About It, and Words Can Hurt Forever: How to Protect Adolescents from Bullying, Harassment, and Emotional Violence. His work has also been featured in televi- sion, magazines, and newspapers, including appearances on “The Today Show,” “Dateline,” and “Larry King Live.” Dr. Garbarino has received numerous awards, including the first C. Henry Kempe Award from the National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Spencer Fellow by the National Academy of Education, National Fellow by the Kellogg Foundation, and the President’s Celebrating Success Award from the National Association of School Psychologists. He is a former president of the American Psychological Association’s Division on Child, Youth, and Family Services. Garry Sigman, M.D., is an Associate Professor at the Loyola Stritch School of Medicine. He is the Director of Adolescent Medicine at the Loyola University Medical Center and serves as Vice-Chairman for Administration, in the Department of Pediatrics. He trained in General Academic Pediatrics at the University of Rochester, and was a Scholar-in-Residence at the Lutheran General Hospital’s Center for Clinical Ethics. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Mental Health. He has served as Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of vii viii About the Editors the AAP’s Committee on Adolescence. He is a founding member of the Academy for Eating Disorders. He served as member and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatric’s Institutional Review Board. He has served on many committees locally and nationally related to the prevention and treatment of adolescent health problems. He lectures widely in behavioral medicine, clinical ethics, and adoles- cent medicine and has a series of publications that relate to those disciplines. Contents Part I Perspectives on Healthy Environments for Children 1 “To Such as These, the Kingdom of Heaven Belongs”: Religious Faith as a Foundation for Children’s Rights ......................... 3 Gary B. Melton 2 Preventing Childhood Malaria: Strategies That Work Today and Directions for the Future ................................... 31 Kim C. Williamson 3 A Case Study of a Partnership in Chicago to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning ..................................................... 43 Anita Weinberg Part II Why Is Protecting the Human Rights of Children so Difficult? 4 Spare the Rod: Why Are More American Children Victims and Perpetrators of Violence Than Those of Any Other Developed Country? .................................... 75 James Gilligan 5 Promoting a Protective Environment for Children Affected by Disaster and War .................................................. 105 Neil Boothby and Alastair Ager 6 When Rights and Needs Collide .............................................................. 123 Shweta Singh ix
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