BICE, the Bureau International Catholique de l'Enfant, is promoting a World Appeal for a New Mobilisation for Childhood. The title is interesting, a mobilisation for Childhood. Ever since Philippe Ariès ground-breaking sociological study, Centuries of Childhood, there has been intense debate about the conception of childhood. Some argue that childhood is a distinctly separate state of human development while others tend to argue for seeing childhood in a continuum with adulthood. Child liberationists, for example, support the view that recognising childhood as a separate stage amounts, in fact, to an oppression of children in much the same way as feminists have argued in relation to 'womanhood'.

The World Appeal for a New Mobilisation for Childhood is a campaign supported by a coalition of NGOs, religious groups, churches, schools and education bodies, a coalition that explicitly espouses a more traditional view of childhood. Many see childhood under threat today. Family life is under stress. Many children, even in the Western world, do not enjoy the kind of childhood to which children have a right. Play is less and less a feature of childhood experience because of the more privatised and individualised contexts of modern life. Playing a computer game in one's bedroom is no substitute for the social interaction of children's games, sports and informal play.

In its reference document the Word Appeal for a New Mobilisation for Childhood lists ten issues that the drafters believe are crucial in re-defining childhood for our times:

The World Appeal has set out its stall. It is a compelling set of issues, ones that are central to the lived experience of many young people across all cultures and social contexts today. It will be interesting to see how the initiative garners support and prompts debate.