Championing Children S Rights A Global Study Of Independent Human Rights Institutions For Choldren Summary Report

Independent Human Rights Institutions for Children, referred to as "Ombuds for Children," have gained considerable importance in implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and as key contributors to policy processes for child rights. Ombuds for Children monitor the actions of governments and other actors that affect children, promote childrens rights, and facilitate dialogue between children and the State. Many countries established, or are setting up, such institutions. International networks exist to facilitate and support these efforts. This study examines independent institutions for childrens rights, with a view to informing decision-making. It analyzes their distinctive value in the realization of childrens rights, highlights practical considerations, and identifies conditions for their effective functioning.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 is one of the most highly ratified human rights treaties in the world, with 192 states currently signed up to it. Article Twelve is fundamental to the Convention and states that all children capable of forming views have the right to express those views, and recognises that all children have the right to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting them. This book explores the historical and theoretical background to Article Twelve, and examines the various models of participation which have been created to facilitate a better understanding of this provision. Aisling Parkes analyzes the extent to which Article Twelve has been implemented under international law, and in domestic law, as well as setting-out recommendations for the most effective ways of implementing Article Twelve in all areas of children’s lives.

The contributors to this edited collection provide first-hand experiences in directing, working for, and studying ICRIs and detail their unique, in-depth accounts of factors shaping ICRIs’ efforts to monitor and advance children’s rights.

Following the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2020, and the creation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, there is increased interest in and a need to develop national human rights’ bodies for children’s rights. This book provides an in-depth look at one domestic independent children’s rights institution: the Irish Ombudsman for Children’s Office, to highlight the learnings for an international audience and the methodologies that can be used to promote and protect children’s rights at a national level. Co-authored by Ireland’s first Ombudsman for Children and a children’s rights professor, the book will present an original and informed analysis of how a national human rights institution can advocate, most effectively, for the rights of children. By using illustrative case studies, the book will highlight how the powers of a national human rights institution can be put to strategic use to address specific children’s rights deficits in areas of child protection, youth detention and public awareness about children’s rights. Each chapter focusses on a case study, identifies a problem, the approach or intervention by the Ombudsman for Children, the outcome and reflects on lessons learned. It ensures that the cases can be extracted, examined and replicated in other jurisdictions by an international community interested in the promotion, monitoring and protection of children’s rights. It speaks to those interested in Human Rights; Children’s Rights; Socio-legal studies, Social Work; Childhood Studies; Administrative Law, Constitutional Law and International Law, and to practitioners and policy-makers in this field.

About the publication Human rights norms will largely remain hollow if they are not translated into the lived realities of people on the ground. Given the diversity and complexities of human rights norms, the arrays of institutions, mechanisms and resource required to give full effect to these norms, implementation of human rights norms is a continuous and progressive undertaking. Progress, to be meaningful, should have milestones and mechanisms for tracking it. The reporting mechanisms are human rights’ monitoring and evaluation plans and systems to track progressive implementation. This book provides an assessment of the reporting mechanisms of child rights treaty bodies. It highlights what is working or not working and why, making recommendations for further improvement of the reporting mechanism to better work for children in Africa. The findings and recommendations in the book are based on a study commissioned by the Centre for Human Rights, to assess the effects of reporting to United Nations and African Union child rights treaty bodies on the enjoyment of rights, protection and welfare of children in Africa. It covers 17 African countries, and provides a historical snapshot of the situation as at the end of 2017.

The collection aims to inspire readers with new approaches to implementing and monitoring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to make rights ‘real’ in children’s lives. Children’s human rights are internationally recognised in the legally binding international treaty—the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most ratified of all human rights treaties. Although measures are increasingly being taken to implement the Convention at a national level, more needs to be done to ensure that children’s rights are recognised and supported in their daily lives. This collection brings together the latest research on new approaches to embedding children’s rights into national law and policies, with contributions from academics, practitioners and importantly young activists, from the UK and beyond. This book will be of interest to all human rights advocates, particularly policy makers and practitioners looking for new ways in which to make children’s rights real. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.

Children's rights law is a relatively young but rapidly developing discipline. The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the field's core legal instrument, is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. Yet, like children themselves, children's rights are often relegated to the margins in mainstream legal, political, and other discourses, despite their application to approximately one-third of the world's population and every human being's first stages of life. Now thirty years old, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) signalled a definitive shift in the way that children are viewed and understood--from passive objects subsumed within the family to full human beings with a distinct set of rights. Although the CRC and other children's rights law have spurred positive changes in law, policies, and attitudes toward children in numerous countries, implementation remains a work in progress. We have reached a state in the evolution of children's rights in which we need more critical evaluation and assessment of the CRC and the large body of children's rights law and policy that this treaty has inspired. We have moved from conceptualizing and adopting legislation to focusing on implementation and making the content of children's rights meaningful in the lives of all children. This book provides a critical evaluation and assessment of children's rights law, including the CRC. With contributions from leading scholars and practitioners from around the world, it aims to elucidate the content of children's rights law, explore the complexities of implementation, and identify critical challenges and opportunities for children's rights law.