Children’s Legal Centre Wales and Observatory on Human Rights of Children statement: Welsh Government’s Response to the Senedd Children and Young People and Education Committee’s Inquiry - Services for Care Experienced Children: exploring radical reform. ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...