Celebrating 21 years of the children's rights convention

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Baroness Massey of Darwen, UNICEF UK trustee and chair of the APPG on Children celebrates the 21st anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

On Wednesday 17th November, I am delighted to be hosting a 21st anniversary celebration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in the House of Lords.

The most widely ratified human rights treaty in history, the CRC has helped, and continues to help, create a better world for children. However, while we celebrate the progress that has been made, we must also recommit to all that remains to be done.

UNICEF UK works for children across the world and here in the UK. The world’s largest children’s organisation continues to support governments to embed child rights nationally and internationally, so that every child everywhere is able to realise their rights – to a childhood, to be educated, to be healthy, to be treated fairly and to be heard.

At the anniversary event this Wednesday, some of the young people involved in UNICEF UK’s programmes will talk about what children’s rights means to them.

Children from a UNICEF UK Rights Respecting secondary school in Bolton will explain the impact of learning about children’s rights in their school community. UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) scheme helps schools across the UK put the principles and values of the CRC at the heart of their ethos. A new evaluation by the Universities of Sussex and Brighton shows that involvement in the RRSA can result in improvements in relationships, attainment and attitudes across schools.

Young people who are helping UNICEF UK to pilot a new Child Friendly Communities programme will also be speaking about what children’s rights mean for them and their local area. The Child Friendly Communities programme supports local authorities, and their Children’s Trust partners, to implement a rights-based approach in their communities by putting children at the heart of all their policies and practice and improving child well-being. Participation of children and young people is integral to this work, in line with Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which highlights that children should be involved in decisions affecting them.

For an invitation to the CRC 21st anniversary event please contact Rosalind Stainton by emailing rosalinds@unicef.org.uk or phone 0207 375 6074. To find out more about children’s rights, the Rights Respecting Schools Award, Child Friendly Communities or other UNICEF UK work please visit www.unicef.org.uk.

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