happy for translations to be made provided you contact IPA and make the translation freely available. • Translations should always refer back to the official UN documents to ensure terminology is correct and the translation is accurate. • There are other versions of the General Comment being created in different languages and formats around the world. You can link to IPA to share and exchange resources on article 31. Theresa Casey is President of the International Play Association.
Finally, A General Comment on the Child’s Right to Play (continued from page 29) municipalities and within municipalities of schools in creating environments for children, where they can recreate, play and are culturally active (para. 58 (f ) and (g)). • A special concept gets the Committee’s explicit support, which is the idea of “universal design” (para. 58 (e)). The universal design intends to shape all facilities, equipment and services in a way that they can be used to the greatest extent by everyone regardless of age, gender, disability, origin or other personal background. If such forms of design can be created with regard to children’s recreation, play and cultural activities, the rights under article 31 would strongly support interaction and communication across social groups in society. This is a short summary, which cannot replace reading the full text of the General Comment. It should be widely known in the child-rights communities. The Committee expects that NGOs will help to disseminate this document. Also
3 8 P L A Y R I G H T S • I P A W O R L D . O R G
the State Parties are under the obligation to provide translations and copies. Yet often civil society organizations have better channels than the administration to bring such messages to those who should be informed. The role of non-governmental organizations This General Comment no. 17, like every general comment of the Committee, firstly addresses the State Parties that have adopted the treaty and established the Committee. Since the Committee is authorized to cooperate with non-State actors as well, it is an important document for the activities of these organizations at the same time. They will find a lot of arguments, which can strengthen their advocacy for the implementation of the child’s right to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities, cultural life and the arts and to guide their own activities in this field of children’s recreational, play and cultural activities. The Committee knows that the implementation of children’s rights is very much dependent on the legislation, administration and services of the States. But it also knows and appreciates that civil society works hard to make sure that children’s rights are not forgotten in complex political situation full of pressures and cross-pressures. And quite a number of organizations directly support children and their activities. Civil society should also take care that children themselves can voice their views and participate in the efforts to implement their right to recreation, play and cultural activities (para.58). It is the bundle of rights under article 31, which very much determines, whether children can recognize themselves as active subjects. For this reason, the right to rest, recreation, play and cultural activities reflects the core concern of the
Convention, i.e. to respect the child as a human being, whose best interests, well-being and development must be ensured together with the children.
CONTRIBUTORS
Steve McCurry is recognized universally
as one of today’s finest photographers. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including Magazine Photographer of the Year, awarded by the National Press Photographers’ Association. This was the same year in which he won an unprecedented four first prizes in the World Press Photo Contest. He has won the Olivier Rebbot Memorial Award twice. stevemccurry.com Lothar Krappmann was a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2003 to 2011, and from 2007 the rapporteur of the Committee. He was responsible for the review of child-rights implementation in more than twenty countries and belonged to the editorial group of several General Comments of the Committee on articles of the Convention. Until his retirement Lothar was a senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Human Development in Berlin (Germany). Jonathan Todres is a law professor at Georgia State University College of Law in the US. His research focuses on issues of children’s rights and children’s well-being. Select publications are available at: http://ssrn.com/author=239725. The author is grateful to Clay Roberts ( JD candidate, GSU College of Law) for his excellent research assistance. Keith Towler is Children’s Commissioner of Wales. Ally Johns has run Alison John & Associates, a consultancy on inclusion and equality for fifteen years in Wales. www.alisonjohn.com Les Evans created the article 31 poster. Rex Burruss Design is an award-winning graphic design and advertising firm, based in Atlanta, Georgia. www.rexburrussdesign.com