Implementing the UNCRC in Wales: effective structures and mechanisms for children

Dr Rhian Croke, Child Rights Strategic Litigation and Policy Advocacy Lead, Children’s Legal Centre Wales and Member of Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group When a State, like the UK, signs and then ratifies the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), it takes on...

Children’s Legal Centre Wales Response: Report by Children’s Commissioner for England on Strip Search of Children

We welcome the Children’s Commissioner for England report and are deeply concerned by its findings.  We believe that the practice of strip-searching children must be stopped immediately.  The report confirms that children across England and Wales have been searched by...

Strip Search of Children: A violation of children’s rights

England and Wales: Strip search of children A BBC File on 4 investigation asked all 44 police forces in England and Wales for information about strip search of children.[i]  A total of 31 police forces responded to the BBC’s request, revealing that in the last 5...

Poverty and children’s rights

Living in poverty undermines children’s rights guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). For example, it has a negative impact on children’s right to life and survival, and to develop to their maximum potential (Article 6 UNCRC), to an...

How the law in Wales has changed since the days of Hetty Feather

I can’t be the only one who loves anything Jacqueline Wilson writes and Hetty Feather has always held a place in my heart. Being one of Jacqueline Wilson’s most famous books, Hetty Feather follows the life of a girl who was abandoned by her mother at a foundling...

How can art break the law and get you into trouble?

Night Owls by Jenn Bennett Jenn Bennett is an American author of novels for both teenagers and adults. One of her award-winning books, Night Owls, follows the adventures of two teenage artists, Bex and Jack. Bex is a student who aspires to become a medical...

Proposal to reform the Human Rights Act 1998 will weaken children’s human rights

Human rights and children’s rights organisations across the UK have expressed their concerns to the UK Government’s proposals to replace the UK Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) [i] with a Bill of Rights. The new Bill of Rights was officially announced in the Queens...

A new Welsh Government plan for children: the devil is in the detail

Critical friends - driving change for children Wales since devolution has been pursuing an agenda that seeks to respect and promote the human rights of children as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC or Convention). Why is this...

Equal Protection for Children in Wales: A Historic Milestone in Children’s Rights

21 March 2022 From today, children in Wales enjoy the same legal protection from corporal (physical) punishment as adults. The Children (Abolition of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act was passed by the Senedd in January 2020 after years of debate and campaigning. It...

Mental health and young people’s experience of food poverty in Wales

On Children's Mental Health Week, we consider the relationship between children and young people’s experience of food poverty in Wales and mental health. All rights are connected and related to each other. How might your right to health, including mental health, be...

The Law is Different in Wales

 

In Wales, the law is often different to the law in England.

This is because the UK government has given power to the Senedd (and to the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly) to make some of its own laws. The law is especially different in lots of the areas that affect children and young people, including education, health and social care.

It is also different because the Welsh Government recognises the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).