The city of Omelas is full of joy and happiness; everything seems perfect. However, beneath the beauty of this city exists darkness. In a basement in Omelas, a child is imprisoned in a broom closet to preserve the happiness of the city. The argument of this assignment will center around the passage describing the ill-treatment of the child. Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is particularly relevant to this situation, as it takes a specific focus on the detention of children. Based on a reading of both The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas and the CRC, one can conclude that Omelas is committing a serious human rights violation against this child.
Article 37(b) of the CRC notes that no child shall be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty (United Nations, CRC). Based on the reading, the child did not commit any crime, leading to their imprisonment. In fact, it appears that the child is in the basement to preserve the happiness of others in the city. In this way, one could argue that the detention of the child is arbitrary, as it is without a clear, lawful reason. However, even if a reason for the child’s imprisonment exists, it is important to note that, according to Article 37, when deprived of their liberty, the detention of a child must be a last resort and take place for the shortest period of time (United Nations, CRC). That said, it is unlikely that an undisclosed amount of time in this room meets these criteria, especially considering that Article 37(a) notes that there shall be no life imprisonment without the possibility of release (United Nations, CRC).
Moreover, in addition to the fact that the detention itself likely unlawful, the conditions in which the child is kept also violate Article 37 of the CRC. The room where the child is kept is small and dark, and the narrator suggests that it is an old broom closet, which is not humane for anyone (Le Guin, 4). From here, the narrator writes that the child may have become “imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect.” (Le Guin, 4). This is both cruel and inhuman treatment, as it is through this stay in the closet that the people of Omelas do not believe that the child could ever properly join society, feel joy, or live without fear (Le Guin, 6).
In terms of food and basic care, the child is given just enough food and water to keep them alive and they are forced to live with and sit in their own feces (Le Guin, 5). In this way, those in Omelas commit additional violations against the CRC, as even when detained, according to Article 37(c), a child must be treated with humanity and respect (United Nations, CRC). Additional evidence to suggest that the child is neglected and not respected is found in the narrator’s description of the child's appearance. Specifically, they explain the extreme thinness of the child’s legs, that their belly protrudes, and that the child appears to be around the age of six, instead of ten (Le Guin, 5). The underdevelopment of this child is evidence that they are facing inhuman treatment in this room and despite its cries, no one has saved them from the room in the basement.
The narrator of '''The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas''', begins by setting up a picture-perfect idea of a practically utopic city. This carries on through the reading until we get to the end, and discover the small, yet horrendous sacrifice that is required to maintain the city’s perfection. When the narrator begins to describe the life of the child hidden in a basement, she adds the irony of this “beautiful public building” that he/she is held in the cold, glum basement of. The narrator helps us as readers to visualize the condition of this gruesome room that an innocent young child must live in. The child has become so damaged from his/her living conditions, that “it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition and neglect.” The narrator sets up this passage by describing the circumstances of how the happiness of this one child would impact the perfect life of thousands, and the guilt that would be felt in corrupting that. This passage is important, as it demonstrates just how heartless people can be to achieve their own happiness.
A potential root cause behind the treatment of child from this story could be lack of clear forms of leadership or government. In this way, no one is responsible to protect the child’s basic human rights. Moreover, it is possible that having some form of leadership would help the child, as it would be the responsibility of the state to ensure the child's safety. Article 3(2) of the CRC supports claims that governments have the responsibility for the well-being and protection the children within their state (United Nations, CRC). In this way, by having a clear form of leadership, it is more likely that the needs of this child will be respected. Furthermore, even if the state does not assume this responsibility, the people who oppose the treatment of this child would have a body to appeal to and hold accountable.
If the lack of leadership is not the reason behind why the people of Omelas are not relieving the child of their suffering, another potential option is a theory of a cult-like system. The text reads, “They all know that it [the child] has to be there.” (Le Guin, 5). If Omelas resembles some sort of cult, and there is no leader, it would be a lot harder to dismantle and challenge the system because everyone believes that the child’s suffering is necessary for Omelas’s existence. In this way, a solution to this situation is the removal of the child from Omelas by an external force, and perhaps those who leave Omelas are searching for just that.
Citations
United Nations. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx