The Church's social doctrine constantly points out the need to respect the dignity of children. “In the family, which is a community of persons, special attention must be devoted to the children by developing a profound esteem for their personal dignity, and a great respect and generous concern for their rights. This is true for every child, but it becomes all the more urgent the smaller the child is and the more it is in need of everything, when it is sick, suffering or handicapped”554John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 26: AAS 74 (1982), 111-112.. The rights of children must be legally protected within juridical systems. In the first place, it is necessary that the social value of childhood be publicly recognized in all countries: “No country on earth, no political system can think of its own future otherwise than through the image of these new generations that will receive from their parents the manifold heritage of values, duties and aspirations of the nation to which they belong and of the whole human family”555John Paul II, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations (2 October 1979), 21: AAS 71 (1979), 1159; cf. John Paul II, Message to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the occasion of the World Summit for Children (22 September 1990): AAS 83 (1991), 358-361.. The first right of the child is to “be born in a real family”556John Paul II, Address to the Committee of European Journalists for the Rights of the Child (13 January 1979): L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 22 January 1979, p. 5., a right that has not always been respected and that today is subject to new violations because of developments in genetic technology.
The situation of a vast number of the world's children is far from being satisfactory, due to the lack of favourable conditions for their integral development despite the existence of a specific international juridical instrument for protecting their rights557Cf. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which came into force in 1990 and which the Holy See has ratified., an instrument that is binding on practically all members of the international community. These are conditions connected with the lack of health care, or adequate food supply, little or no possibility of receiving a minimum of academic formation or inadequate shelter. Moreover, some serious problems remain unsolved: trafficking in children, child labour, the phenomenon of “street children”, the use of children in armed conflicts, child marriage, the use of children for commerce in pornographic material, also in the use of the most modern and sophisticated instruments of social communication. It is essential to engage in a battle, at the national and international levels, against the violations of the dignity of boys and girls caused by sexual exploitation, by those caught up in paedophilia, and by every kind of violence directed against these most defenceless of human creatures558Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 1996 World Day of Peace, 2-6: AAS 88 (1996), 104-107.. These are criminal acts that must be effectively fought with adequate preventive and penal measures by the determined action of the different authorities involved. IV. THE FAMILY AS ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN SOCIAL LIFE