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...
Dr Rhian Croke, Child Rights Strategic Litigation and Policy Advocacy Lead, Children’s Legal Centre Wales The Issue It is a statutory requirement that ‘looked-after’ children should be allocated an ‘Independent Visitor’ where it appears to the local authority...
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...
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...
I was drawn to social justice work as a career choice due to my background as an adoptee, in addition to work experience I had undertaken at the Children’s Commissioner for Wales’s office when I was 16 years old. I have a passion for helping others and I wish to...
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...
The Observatory and Children's Legal Centre Wales have links with child rights activists and researchers in many countries across the world, including the USA. This summer our work was represented at a major international conference held online and across time zones...
No More Knives, by Christina Gabbitas is a new book which looks at five friends and how they become involved in county lines and knife crime. The story covers the harsh reality of the plight of young people involved in county lines, including what they were expected...
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...
This new book The Impact of Devolution in Wales: Social Democracy with a Welsh Stripe? co-edited by Professor Jane Williams and Dr Aled Eirug, which includes a chapter on children's rights, offers some insight into that question. The edited collection reflects on two...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau - as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, every year, the UN urges every Member State to remember and honour the six million Jewish...
In Europe and globally, children were the least likely group to be consulted on Covid-19 Emergency Measures International Education Day presents an opportunity to reflect on children’s participation in decision making regarding schools during the Covid-19 Pandemic....
The United Nations General Assembly has declared the 24th of January as ‘International Day of Education’. The aim of this day is to commemorate the role education plays in peace and development. Articles 28 and 29 of the UNCRC provides every child with the right to an...
Content warning: eating disorders Author Jacqueline Wilson’s books are well-known for tackling difficult subjects, are Girls Under Pressure is certainly no different. It’s written from the perspective of Ellie, a teenage girl who is struggling deeply with the way she...
What a privilege it was to listen to Lady Hale deliver our Observatory on Human Rights of Children Annual Lecture (online, 10th November). In her 2013 inaugural Annual Lecture for the Observatory she asked the question: Who’s afraid of Children’s Rights? This year the...
On November 29th the World Health Assembly will meet to discuss an International Treaty on Pandemics. Drawing on lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, the treaty (which will be legally binding under international law) will support international efforts to...
Roald Dahl’s Matilda is a book loved by millions, and has been ranked number 30 among all time children’s novels by the School Library Journal! Have you read it? If you haven’t, you may have watched the movie or musical version. Any version is worth the time. It is a...
Have you ever wondered about the secret messages’ authors are trying to convey to us, even in our favourite children’s books? Well, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett focuses on the healing of children’s physical disabilities and mental health by focusing on...
TW: Suicide, depression Are you interested in an engaging story, with a realistic portrayal of mental health issues? Then you should read Orange! Orange is a Japanese manga, written, and illustrated by Ichigo Takano. The manga, set in Matsumoto, follows the current...
Climate change is having a devastating impact on children’s rights. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child says that climate change is the ‘biggest threat to children’s health and exacerbates health disparities’ and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human...
The Huge Bag of Worries by Virginia Ironside tells the story of Jenny, a happy girl with a lovely mum and dad, a great brother, a dog named Loftus, best friends and a wonderful teacher at school. But just lately, Jenny has started worrying. She worries about her...
National Adoption Week 2021 is taking place between the 18th and 22nd of October of this year. The week hopes to promote a better understanding of adoption through real life stories from many different points of view including adoptees themselves and adoptive parents...
Child poverty levels in Wales are rising. Poverty goes far beyond a lack of food, but one obvious sign it is growing worse is the increase in children who need help from the government and charities in order to access sufficient food to eat. Last year, the Trussell...
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact, in Wales, the UK, in Europe and globally. Nearly 1.5 million people in Europe have died due to the Covid-19 virus, although research confirms that deaths of children are rare.[1] While children may not have experienced such...
Free school meals are available to eligible pupils in Wales who attend school full-time. If you receive free school meals, do you feel embarrassed or different to some of your friends? You are not alone if you feel this way. Here, we’ve set out what it’s like for...
The impacts of climate change — including displacement and migration of people — pose multiple challenges to the rights of children.[1] Worldwide, there are 20 million internally displaced persons under age 15 — either because of conflicts and disasters, or both.[2]...
Over the last year, free school meals have become a major talking point. From the campaign by Marcus Rashford in England to three major debates in the Senedd and many articles in print and online media, it seems as though a lot of people are discussing free school...
By Professor Jane Williams Wales has special laws on both sustainable development and children’s rights. How do these two important areas of policy fit together? On the face of it, they should reinforce each other. Children’s rights include being able to live...
There are seven books in the Harry Potter series, do you have a favourite? I think they’re all great, but I love hippogriffs, so mine is the third book. If you liked the last book, Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows, you can read about the law in relation to it...
The past year has been difficult for everyone due to the Coronavirus pandemic. However, this time would have been particularly strenuous on those who are young carers. There are an estimated 700,000 young carers in the UK, with approximately 30,000 carers in Wales...
Do not let her fantastic title fool you! Diamond IS an acrobatic child wonder with an extraordinary gift for acrobatics. However, the story of her life is not all that glamorous. She is the fifth child born to penniless parents who would have preferred that she'd been...
Dear Martin by Nic Stone tells the story of Justyce McAllister, a strong minded seventeen-year-old black man who lives a challenging life, both in his poor neighbourhood, constantly threatened by local criminals, and at the overwhelmingly white prep school he attends....
The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams is a brilliant book. Following the life of Dennis, a young boy who likes football and daytime TV, who after a series of events discovers that he likes wearing dresses! Bravely, his friend convinces him to wear one to school, but...
Hi everyone! Hope you are all well and are enjoying your summers to the best of your ability given the difficulties of recent times. I firstly would like to thank you for taking the time to read this blog post I’ve written. It is written about several issues which are...
I have read a book called The Best Possible Answer by Katherine Kottaras which is a young adult fiction book. Despite it being fictional, the main character Viviana finds herself in a very real, modern and scary situation. Between the ages of 13 – 17 as a teenager /...
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is one of the most successful book series of all time and is the 21st highest-grossing film franchise. It follows the story of Katniss Everdeen, who nominates herself as Tribute when her sister, Prim, was selected to compete in...
The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon is a book that follows the journey of 15 year old Christopher, who has autism. When he finds his neighbour’s dog dead, Christopher sets off to unravel the mystery of who was responsible, whilst writing...
The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr, follows the story of 17 year old Flora Banks who has no short-term memory due to anterograde amnesia. Until one party and one boy changes everything, Flora cannot even remember her name but for some reason she remembers...
The idea of taking responsibility for a younger sibling isn’t far fetched, in fact for most young people this is a regular responsibility. For some children making breakfast so a parent can sleep in, helping a sibling with homework, cleaning up their mess or walking...
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ written by JK Rowling, is the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter is a boy who finds out on his eleventh birthday that he is a wizard and will be going to school at Hogwarts. The books see Harry Potter...
Now, I’m sure that we are all familiar with fairy tales. “Once upon a time”, “happily ever after”; does that ring a bell? I thought it would. Whilst these stories tend to end with true love and happiness for our beloved protagonists, we cannot ignore their journey to...
The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger follows the tale of Holden, a 16-year-old boy, through his transition from adolescence to adulthood. This novel echoed feelings from my childhood as it may have with most teenagers. Holden is a lost and confused boy who...
Friendships. New schools. Anxiety. Heavy topics. Silver linings. If I had to summarise ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ in a few, simple words that’s how I would do it. This is a book which raises awareness of difficult but important issues which must be talked...
By Amber Wassall ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens is a story about a nine-year-old orphan boy who runs away from his life in a workhouse and as an apprentice to an undertaker to London. In London, he meets Jack Dawkins also known as the ‘Artful Dodger’ and joins a...
By Rhiannon Smith Journey to the River Sea, written by Eva Ibbotson, was one of my favourite books growing up. It won the Smarties Book Prize Gold Award and was a runner-up for two other major awards. My own copy is so worn now that the corners are curling over!...