To mark World Children’s Day 2023 Mary Glasgow, Chief Executive reflects on how Children 1st is working to raise awareness of children's human rights.
At Children 1st, children's human rights underpin all aspects of our work to keep children safe, loved and well and together with their families. Human rights make sure that everyone is safe, healthy and treated with respect. Children have special rights because they need extra protection, care and support during childhood. These are set out by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Since 1954 the United Nations has held an annual World Children's Day. This is held on 20th November to promote and celebrate children's human rights because this is the day the UN adopted the UNCRC in 1989. This year’s theme is, ‘For every child, every right.’
One of the rights in the UNCRC is that everyone should know about children’s human rights (article 42).
This World’s Children’s Day, we are launching a series of resources about children’s human rights. We have been working with children and young people, families and our support teams to create information that is engaging, accessible and useful.
Around 50 children, young people, parents and carers from across our services shared their feedback, views and suggestions in the design and development of the resources.
Through this work we have created a leaflet for children and young people, which includes a poster, a booklet for families and a new webpage which explains children’s human rights.
One young person said,
‘It feels like all our ideas have been listened to. It’s amazing how much of our ideas we can see.’
By creating resources that help families to better understand children’s human rights, we can help children and young people claim their rights, support parents and carers to recognise and protect their child’s human rights and identify when a child’s human rights aren’t being met and how to address those violations.
In the last two years, we have been working hard to improve how we further uphold children’s human rights in everything we do. All colleagues have had in-depth training on children’s human rights and what a rights-based approach looks like in practice. Our teams and departments are working to identify the actions and next steps that we need to take to continue this journey.
As Scotland’s national children’s charity, we strive to respect, protect, and fulfil children’s human rights.
We actively involve children, young people and families in the creation, design, and development of our services, to ensure we can support families effectively and make the difference they need in their lives. An example of this is seen through our Bairns Hoose work - here we have ensured that children’s and families’ voices are central in the development and the design of the first Bairns Hoose in Scotland. Bairn’s Hoose is a safe space for children and young people who experience violence or abuse to get all the care, protection and justice they need under one roof when they experience violence or abuse.
To find out more about how we’ve engaged with children and families in our work: Developing Bairns Hoose with Children, Young People and Families | Children 1st
This World Children’s Day, you can play a part in ensuring that every child and young person has every right. We can all help to create spaces where every child is safe and has their human rights looked after. If you want to learn more about children’s human rights, you can download your own copies of the booklet and leaflet.
You can find digital versions of the resources here:
- Children's Human Rights PDF Leaflet - Information for Children (ages 8-18)
- Children's Human Rights PDF Booklet - Information for Families
If you would like a hard copy please contact: childrenshumanrights@children1st.org.uk
You can also find out more information about children’s human rights here: Children's rights | Children 1st