CLA News / CLA Children’s Essay winners – Annual World Children’s Day 20th November 2025

18/11/2025

‘Birth registration is not just a piece of paper, it is a key to a better life’ – 8^th grade entrant

The inaugural CLA Children’s Essay Contest was piloted in Papua New Guinea this year, and we are particularly pleased to be able to announce the prize winners on 20^th November, World Children’s Day.

World Children’s Day commemorates the day in 1959 that the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the ‘Declaration of the Rights of the Child’, which was subsequently elevated to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). All Commonwealth countries are signatories to the UNCRC.

The 20^th of November has been designated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as a Global Day of Action for children by children.[1] In keeping with this call to action, the Rights of the Child, as enshrined in the UNCRC, was the overarching theme of CLA Children’s Essay Contest, with a particular focus on the role of birth registration in securing the rights of children.

The objective of the CLA Children’s Essay Competition is to engage the interest of primary and secondary school children, their schools and their extended communities, thereby elevating their awareness of the UNCRC, their legal and other rights so as to give them confidence in navigating, and shaping the norms of the world that they live in.

The UNCRC recognises that all children have the same rights, regardless of their race, religion, or any other characteristic and specifies a number of children’s rights which afford protection and basic liberties, including the following eight (8) rights that may be found among the 54 articles of the UNCRC:

Life– child’s right to live his or her own life, to not be killed and to survive and to grow up in proper conditions.
Education– child’s right to receive instruction, to enjoy a social life, and to build his or her own future.
Food– child’s right to eat, to not die of hunger, and to not suffer from malnutrition.
Health– child’s right to be protected against illness and to be allowed to grow and become healthy adults.
Water– child’s right to safe drinking water and proper sanitary conditions.
Identity– child’s right to his or her existence officially recognised, to have a surname, a first name, a nationality, and to know who his or her relatives are.
Freedom– child’s right to express him or herself, to have opinions, to have access to information, and to participate in decisions which affect his or her life. Children also have the right to religious freedom.
Protection– child’s right to live in a secure and protective environment which preserves the child’s well-being.^[2]

The CLA’s focus this year is on every child’s right to an identify. The right to an identity in the context of the UNCRC encompasses the child’s right to their name, nationality, and family relationships. Notwithstanding the universal support from all Commonwealth Member States to the UNCRC, a number Member States struggle to achieve the high levels of birth registration that they seek. This is in part due to a multitude of physical, logistical and other challenges. As part of its ongoing efforts, Papua New Guinea (PNG) launched its Civil and Identity Registration Act (CIR Act 2024) in May 2025 in order to improve access to birth registration, particularly in remote regions.[3] In support of this objective, the CLA’s inaugural Children’s Essay competition, which included questions that were particularly focused on birth registration, served to increase the awareness of the CIR Act 2024 and the birth registration process in PNG.

CLA members who worked on this project, together with educators from across the Commonwealth who served as advisors to the project, were particularly heartened to read the childrens’ essays and to note their elevated awareness of the connection between having a registered legal identity and their access to immediate, as well as future, opportunities. Similarly, the children’s overall recognition of all of their rights, as set out in the UNCRC, and their analysis of its meaningful application in practice was also notable.

Some noteworthy quotes from these essays are as follows:

Identity (birth registration):

When I grow up, I will need my birth certificate to apply for a job, obtain a passport or vote in elections. If I want to study in another country, I will need to show proof of my identity. ….. The government of Papua New Guinea is working hard to increase the number of babies being registered. I want to support this effort because I believe every child deserves to be counted. ……Birth registration is not just a piece of paper, it is a key to a better life. (8^th grade)[4]

[B]irth registration is not just a piece of paper. It is a gateway to all other rights. Without it, children remain marginalized excluded and vulnerable. …. Birth registration transforms invisible children into recognized citizens. It empowers them to claim their rights, access services and participate fully in society. In a sense, birth registration is the foundation stone of children’s rights. Without it, other rights remain out reach. With it, children can survive, thrive, and contribute to their communities. It is the first step towards building a world where every child’s dignity and future are respected. (Secondary Group 5)[5]

Birth registration offers lifelong protection, availability of essential services, and access to basic humanitarian rights. ….. To promote child registration in isolated and remote areas the government of Papua New Guinea worked in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide Mobile Registration Units (MRU’S). …. [B]irth registration is not just a formality it is a cornerstone of national development in Papua New Guinea. (8^th grade)[6]

The Birth Certificate is the official identification of a child in Papua New Guinea. It opens new doors for the child. They are able to be enrolled in a school by using their Birth Certificate. If they are travelling abroad, they are able to get their passport by showing their Birth Certificate. They can also open a bank account with banks that allow children to open bank account. For instance, they can use their Birth Certificate to open a Sumatin Account with Bank of South Pacific. (junior category)[7]

It should also be noted that some of the essays also recognised other rights, such as those related to Education, Health, Freedom and Protection, under the UNCRC:

Education:

Education, in particular plays a critical role in ensuring a stable and equitable society. By giving every child-regardless of gender-the chance to learn, we empower the next generation to break cycles of poverty and contribute meaningfully to national progress. (junior category)[8]

In developing countries like Papua New Guinea, customary law state that only male have the right to be educated and all female or girls back at the villages helping parents pay school fees for their brothers. This indicates that customs also refrains children from exercising their rights. (11^th grade)[9]

Health:

[I]nvesting in healthcare improves the quality of life and ensures that citizens are healthy enough to contribute to the economy. These improvements, in turn, create a more resilient and productive society. (junior category)[10]

Freedom:

[C]hildren do not exercise freedom of speech in Papua New Guinea. The children want to stand up and speak and exercise their right but the parents normally stop them from exercising their rights. (11^th grade)[11]

Protection:

Children have the right to be protected. …. To maintain the child to be protected the biological parent must take good care of their children because the children should not be abused or mistreated, free from violence, exploitation, neglect and any form of mistreatment which is supported by laws like the Lukautim Pikinini Act 2009. (11^th grade)[12]

Overall, it was clear that the entrants embarked on an in-depth study of their rights, as set out in the UNCRC, and their essay entries aptly demonstrated their understanding of its application to their lives, and their future.

Some of the essays showed real insight of the linkages between laws, the enforcement of those laws and the ultimate impact on their future. This overarching appreciation may be gleaned from the following extract from one of the essays:

To ensure that children are not left voiceless or exploited, the world has come together to establish the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This international convention recognizes children not as possessions of their parents or the state but individuals with rights of their own. …. Children rights are not privileges, they are fundamental human entitlements necessary for a meaningful and dignified life. …

The denial of children’s rights leads to cycles of poverty, inequality and violence that weakens nations and destroys communities. ….. A world without rights would normalize such abuses leaving children powerless. (Secondary Group 5)[13]

The CLA recognises that the success of this inaugural Children’s Essay Competition would not have been possible without the support of the schools and the dedication of the teachers, in particular. In this regard, it is noteworthy that teachers across the Commonwealth contributed to making this project a success. This included the retired teacher in Canada who drafted the initial lesson plan, the teacher in the Cayman Islands who drafted the initial questions and of course the very diligent work of the teachers in PNG who educated the entrants on the UNCRC and, in particular, on the importance of birth registration.

This project involved the collaboration of many individuals. Among those are three individuals who deserve particular recognition. The first is CLA Council Member for PNG, David Denniston, who with his team of Natalie Kuk, Peggy Ilu, Loretta Damien, Eunice Wangu and Genevieve Roberts, and his firm, Leahy Lewin Lowing Sullivan Lawyers, assisted in designing the project, and implemented it in PNG. Peggy and Loretta are also the Joint Young Commonwealth Lawyer Association Representatives for PNG. The second is CLA Council At Large Member for Canada, Laurie Pawlitza who worked tirelessly on the project and who, with her firm, Torkin Manes LLP, donated the prize money allowing each prize winner will receive Kina 500. The third is Dr. Camille Stoll-Davey, CLA Council member of the Cayman Islands, who was instrumental in initiating the project and who also spent many hours in bringing this project to fruition.

It is therefore, with tremendous pride that the CLA is proud to announce the that the following fifteen (15) students are the 2025 ‘CLA Children’s Essay prize winners’:

Schools: