A report entitled “The State of the World’s Children” is published annually by UNICEF. It focuses on a variety issues related to the rights and issues which face adolescents. I would like to share with all of you the very first and I believe the most important of this summary which is the beginning section entitled, “The Imperative of Investing in Adolescence”.  The report listed five reasons why investing in adolescences is compelling. First under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adolescents have rights and must be protected. This means the right to live, a right to have food, water, education, etc. Second, there is the mention of the 33% reduction in global under five mortality rate. Third, investing in adolescents can held eradicate poverty and help ease  socioeconomic barriers. There is also mention of eradicating gender discrimination. Fourth, by protecting the rights of adolescents it will help combat other conflicts of our day such as HIV, economic upheaval, poverty, etc.  Lastly, adolescents are often referred to as the future. As true as this, they are also an integral part of the present.

The adolescents of our present generation are faced with a multitude of issues which not only make the future seem unstable, but also at times unpromising.  We face many problems in our present day facing sexual morality and ethics. This was something that has always taken place in human history. St. Paul faced this problem in the various churches he visited on his spiritual journey of faith. Although gender discrimination should be stopped and the rights of adolescents should always be upheld and protected, communities and leaders  must seek alternative ways of educating the youth regarding sexual activity. We must focus on chastity and abstinence as an alternative way out for the youth rather than indoctrinating them with condoms and abortion.

Open up Google and type [12 year old pregnant] and you will get tons of links to mothers all under the age of 12. Young girls have not even going through puberty yet and are bearing children.  What kind of society are we building when human life, the basis of all other rights  is ridiculed, mocked, and persecuted.

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