Every year on December 28 Christians observe a remembrance of the innocent children who were killed in official pursuit of the child Jesus with intention to kill him. The story is in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2. The authorities of the time, in anxiety over any challenge to the government, did an extermination of young boy children. The family got word of this and left the country and went to Egypt for safety.
In 2010 the children of many countries are under threat, especially those who are caught up in the complexities of immigration. Children in many places are forced to work rather than get an education. Others are taken up into the enterprise of sex commercialism. Some are forced into military service on the front lines of wars.
Holy Innocents is a day for particular attention in the Christian religious community. This observance is not congenial with the Christmas/New Years holiday and is a note of harsh reality in the midst of family and community celebrations.
An example of attention being given in the civil community is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC ). The UN General Assembly in November of 1989 adopted the CRC and it became a reality in 1990. By 2000 193 of the 195 members states of the UN had ratified the CRC. Exceptions were the US and Somalia. The basic aim is to create a legally binding human rights treaty for children. It appears that childhood is the last frontier for the articulation of rights for special groups.
Information is available in a collection articles in the January 2011 edition of the The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
It is appropriate for Christians to take their place in this effort and can focus attention the observance of December 28 on the Holy Innocents of the human race.
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