We are The Children’s Rights Group.
The Children’s Rights Group is an Educational Non-Government Organisation dedicated to protecting and reinforcing the rights of children across the UK. We believe that children’s rights are a vital foundation for a functional and prosperous society. We want to reinforce the importance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) by educating people, especially children, on their rights and helping to create new laws and policies that strengthen them. ‘The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an internationally binding human rights agreement. The convention has 54 articles, 42 of which set out the rights of children and young people’ (Unicef UK, 2022). Children have more rights under the UNCRC than adults. We want to make sure that all children can enjoy their rights.
Our Mandate
The Children’s Rights Group is committed to improving children’s rights in the UK and we have four Aims to help us measure our progress in accomplishing our mission.
- Promote the education of children on their rights
As forementioned, human rights education is only compulsory for Key Stages 3 and 4. We will campaign to get it added to the compulsory curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2 to ensure every child learns about their rights. Furthermore, our campaign will focus on teaching children about their rights and the UNCRC, then allowing them to make the connections between rights and responsibilities.
- Create policy proposals to reinforce the rights of children
Our organisation believes that change must be implemented at the legislative level. For example, we recommend that Right’s laws should apply to all children regardless of their citizenship status. This would help protect vulnerable children such as refugees as some may be in the UK without family members or people they know and trust.
- Create resources to teach children about their rights
The Children’s Rights Group will work with Unicef to create a book about children’s rights. The book will explain what a right is, the responsibilities that go with each right; and use illustrations to further the understanding of what a rights violation might look like as well as detailing what to do if they or someone they know has their rights violated.
- Conduct research on the extent to which children’s rights are understood and enjoyed
Conducting research on the levels of understanding of children on their rights will not only help the UK assess its success on the issue but it will also identify weaknesses which will help us develop policy proposals to improve rights education and enjoyment in the UK.