5 October 2006 - Rights CRINMAIL 28
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- CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE: UN Study Launched Next Week [event]
- EDUCATION: Support Teachers for Rights Based Schools [statement]
- NEW WEBSITE: CRIN and the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children Launch new Website [news]
- WALES: Righting the Wrongs: The Reality of Children's Rights [report]
- INDIA: Child Budget Work [publication]
- CRIN: New Website Space on Children’s Right to Be Heard [news]
- HOUSING: Defending the Housing Rights of Children [publication]
- SWITZERLAND: Challenges to Children's Rights [conference]
- UNITED KINGDOM: Rights Based Approaches to Development [course]
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Rights CRINMAIL is a component of a project of the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN). It is published monthly with the purpose of informing and building the community of practitioners in rights-based programming. Your submissions are welcome. To contribute, email us at[email protected].
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If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.
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CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE: UN Study Launched Next Week [event]
The Secretary-General's Study on Violence Against Children will be launched next week at the UN General Assembly by the Independent Expert leading the study, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.
The launch will begin with the presentation of the report to the General Assembly and will be followed by a series of other activities which will take place over two days, including the launch of the child-friendly report, hosted by Save the Children, a roundtable discussion where children and young people will be given an opportunity to ask questions and contribute their opinions. There will also be an exhibiton of children's materials during the week of the launch at the UN buildings.
The Violence Study is being presented at the 61st session of the General Assembly, to its Third Committee, which is the committee that deals with human rights and children's rights. Other reports relevant to children's rights will also be presented to this Committee who will then draft a resolution on children's rights, based on the recommendations of these reports. More information.
A group of children and young people from around the world are going to New York prior to the launch to prepare for their contribution and participation. The events will also be attended by representatives of NGOs, the three UN agencies involved in the Study, namely UNICEF, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Health Organisation, and government representatives.
For more details about events click here.
The NGO Advisory Panel for the Study, which was formed to facilitate broad and effective NGO involvement in the study is organising a meeting to prepare for follow-up to the Study and advocacy activities.
Based on the key findings of the Study, the NGO Advisory Panel has prepared a series of recommendations, including strong endorsement of the Study recommendations and the appointment of a Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Violence against Children. The Advisory Panel has also drafted a proposal for the resolution on children's rights.
The report will be made available next week on the website of the Study Secretariat. Further information about events and participation is also available on their website at: www.violencestudy.org
CRIN's website on Children and Violence has recently been updated with the following information:
CRIN will also be reporting from New York on the activities taking place, including children's participation. Information will be sent out via this email list. If you would like to get more detailed information, you can subscribe to our Violence CRINMAIL here http://www.crin.org/email/subscribe.asp or visit our website: www.childrenandviolence
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EDUCATION: Support Teachers for Rights Based Schools [statement]
[5 October 2006] - The following statement was made by Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, on the occasion of World Teachers Day:
"On World Teachers’ Day, we need to think of ways to support teachers across the Council of Europe region in creating rights-based schools. Governments must listen to teachers more and provide them with more support.
The school environment is a crucially important location for learning about and practicing human rights from an early age. It is a place where all children are given the same opportunity to develop respect for human rights. As the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states, the purpose of education is ultimately to prepare the child for a “responsible life in a free society, in the sprit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin” as well as “respect for the natural environment”.
The theme of this year’s World Teachers’ Day is “Quality Teachers for Quality Education”. We cannot emphasize enough how much the qualification of teachers and educators is key – and not only when it comes to teaching our children how to read, write and calculate. Teachers are also primary human rights defenders, and what’s more: key actors for the success of human rights education. Teachers have an essential role in preparing children to assume an active and participatory democratic citizenship.
Human rights values should not only be taught as a separate subject but should permeate the whole education system. Teachers should not only teach about democracy but also act in that spirit, giving students a practical understanding – as well experience – about democratic customs and behaviour. Each child should be given the opportunity to learn in a democratic atmosphere and to be heard and have his or her opinions taken seriously.
Teacher skills, attitudes and motivation are therefore crucially important for human rights education. The necessary preparation should be given through pre-service teacher education, focusing on both academic knowledge about the taught subjects and teaching methods needed to create a child-centred, inclusive learning environment. In addition, in our fast-changing world, teachers must be engaged in life-long learning to be able to meet new challenges.
It is a grave political contradiction that so much emphasis is being given to the importance of education while so little is being done to give teachers status, support and reward. Their advice is too often ignored or not even asked for when decisions are taken about education policy. The professional status of teachers should be recognised as one of the most important in society.
Governments have endorsed numerous international conventions and recommendations emphasising the importance of human rights education. At the end of the day, however, it is the teacher community which has to work on the practical level, and turn the principle ideas into reality. It is vital therefore that teachers are involved in the process from the beginning, or there is a risk that the high ambitions will stay on the level of rhetoric, leading to few changes at the school level.
It is the responsibility of policy-makers and school management to support and empower the teachers in this important role, and to work toward raising their professional status."
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=10580
For more information, contact:
Commissioner for Human Rights
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, France
Tel: +33 3 88 41 20 00
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.commissioner.coe.int
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NEW WEBSITE: CRIN and the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children Launch new Website [news]
ENOC is a not-for-profit association of independent children’s rights institutions. Its mandate is to facilitate the promotion and protection of children's rights, as formulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Members of the network are independent authorities working for the protection and promotion of children’s rights in Council of Europe member states.
In an effort to increase collaboration and information sharing between independent institutions for children and child rights NGOs, CRIN and ENOC jointly launched a new website during ENOC's annual conference that took place in Athens last week. The website features information about the Network, links to its members, its Statute, country information linked to the CRIN website, and much more. Go to: www.ombudsnet.org or www.crin.org/enoc
Please note that some parts of the site have not been completed but should be shortly.
For information about the ENOC annual meeting, go to: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=10578
For more information contact:
Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
c/o Save the Children
1, St John's Lane, London EC1M 4AR, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7012 6865
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.crin.org
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WALES: Righting the Wrongs: The Reality of Children's Rights [report]
Righting the wrongs: The reality of children’s rights in Wales uses the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’s reporting framework to provide an interim analysis of how far children’s rights have been realised in Wales since the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child highlighted its areas of concern in its last report on the UK in 2002.
The process of preparing this report has presented the unique opportunity of including the expertise of a diverse section of the non-governmental and academic community working with and for children and young people. Using the lens of children’s rights the different contributors provide detailed analyses on:
Participation, Corporal Punishment, Child Protection, Child Poverty, Health Inequalities, Education and Citizenship, Asylum Seeker Children, Disabled Children, Looked After Children, Sexual Exploitation and Juvenile Justice as well as measures taken to implement the UNCRC in Wales.
The contributors identify gaps and weaknesses (as well as strengths) in the available information and make recommendations for action. In this context, we trust that Wales will be in a stronger position to assess the position of its children’s rights as it approaches 2007 – the time for the UK’s next periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The report will be of interest to policy makers, service managers, practitioners, young people and all concerned with promoting and realising children’s rights in Wales.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=10464&flag=report
Save the Children - Wales programme
2nd Floor, Phoenix House, 8 Cathedral Road, Cardiff CF 11 9LJ, Wales
Tel: +44 (0)29 2039 6838
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.savethechildren.org.uk
Further information
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INDIA: Child Budget Work [publication]
HAQ Centre for Child Rights in India has been undertaking Child Budget Analysis since 2000. Drawing on HAQ's work, the Government of India is now undertaking child budget analysis at the Union and State levels. This report is a write-up of HAQ's child budget work.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=10527
For more information, contact:
HAQ Centre for Child Rights
208 Shanpur Jat, New Delhi 110049, India
Tel: + 91 11 26490136; Fax: + 91 11 26492551
Email: [email protected]
Further information
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CRIN: New Website Space on Children’s Right to Be Heard [news]
To coincide with this year’s Day of General Discussion, CRIN launched a new space on the website dedicated to children’s right to be heard. This space, Right Now, will provide resources and analysis on effective children and young people’s participation.
All children and young people have a right to be heard. It is written in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. But in practice, children and young people are rarely listened to. Adults often make decisions for them, and their participation in decisions affecting their own lives is minimal. Compared to adults, children's voices are often repressed, their access to information is reduced.
This has to change RIGHT NOW! Right from the beginning, children and young people must be given the information, opportunity and support they need to get involved in decisions affecting their lives.
This page provides a space for resources and analysis on effective children and young people's participation in three areas:
Information on the Day of General Discussion of the Committee on the Rights of the Child: To Speak, Participate and Decide – The Child’s Right to be Heard, 15 September 2006.
To submit information to CRIN for this web space, contact: [email protected].
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=10212
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HOUSING: Defending the Housing Rights of Children [publication]
The report Defending the Housing Rights of Children, by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, examines the many ways in which children suffer violations of their housing rights. It highlights the international human rights standards that are intended to protect the housing rights of all the world’s children.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=10289
For more information, contact:
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.cohre.org
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SWITZERLAND: Challenges to Children's Rights [conference]
Date: 18 November 2006
Location: Sion, Switzerland
The Conference Challenges in Children’s Right aims at comparing ideas and facilitating an exchange of information between researchers, professionals, staff and students from diverse children’s rights programmes on the future directions and challenges in the interdisciplinary study of children's rights, as well as on recent developments in the international legal and social arenas pertaining to children's rights.
The Conference is meant for professionals, researchers and students involved in children’s rights.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=10386
For more information, contact:
Institut Universitaire Kurt Bosch, Switzerland
Case postale 4176, CH-1950 Sion 4, Switzerland
Tel : +41 27 205 73 00; Fax : +41 27 205 73 01
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.iukb.ch
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UNITED KINGDOM: Rights Based Approaches to Development [course]
The aim of the course is to familiarise participants with principles, approaches and practices, which define a rights-based approach to development. The course provides an opportunity to reflect on the implications of applying rights-based approaches in the context of programmes and organisational development and to assess if and how an organisation might take these ideas forward.
The method of working uses participatory and inter-active processes to explore a series of topics and issues relating to the application of rights-based approaches to programming and to organisational development. Inputs will be provided by the facilitators: these will include presentations, handouts, details of further resources and useful websites and addresses. Plenary sessions will provide opportunities for participants to share and advance their learning.
The course is designed for NGO and other staff members - managers and practitioners - who are looking for an introduction to rights-based approaches. Please note that this course is not designed to train participants how to apply rights-based approaches in their work.
Objectives:
By the end of the course, participants will have knowledge of:
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The different meanings of a rights-based approach to development
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The key legal instruments underpinning the rights-based approach
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The major debates around taking a rights-based approach
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Different ways that NGOs have incorporated a rights-based approach into their strategy and programming
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The implications for NGOs moving towards a rights-based approach
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How to analyse the appropriate position for their organisation towards the rights-based approach
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=10576&flag=event
For more information, contact:
INTRAC
PO Box 563, Oxford OX26 6RZ, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1865 201851; Fax: +44 (0)1865 201852
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.intrac.org
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