Justice Through Knowledge and Testimony

Sor Juana used her knowledge and writing as testimony to injustice, documenting through her works the contradictions and cruelties she witnessed in her society. Her intellectual work became a form of justice-making. For children experiencing abuse, exploitation, or rights violations, the right to be heard as witnesses and knowledge-holders is fundamental to justice. Children are often silenced in legal proceedings—their testimony questioned, their understanding of events dismissed as confused or unreliable, their voices subordinated to adult interpretations. Yet children who directly experience harm possess crucial knowledge. Justice through knowledge and testimony means creating systems where children can communicate what happened to them, where their accounts are treated seriously, and where their understanding shapes accountability and remedy. This includes supporting children to articulate their experiences, protecting them during testimony, and ensuring their voices influence outcomes. Sor Juana's writings provide historical testimony that might otherwise be lost; similarly, children's testimony preserves records of injustice and names harms that systematic denial tries to erase. When children are silenced, perpetrators face no accountability and injustice is normalized. When children are heard as credible witnesses, justice becomes possible. This right extends to all contexts—family, school, community, legal systems—where children's knowledge of their own experiences must be centered and believed.