Submitted by crinadmin on
The Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) has been awarded a major three-year grant from the Big Lottery Fund to support children's and young people's active engagement in the Convention on the Rights of the Child reporting process. The centrepiece of the project will be an interactive website, built to a specification developed by young people. Qualitative research will be carried out with children and young people. A team of young ‘children's rights investigators’ will be trained and supported to ensure no voices get left out. CRAE will run a ‘Get yourself to Geneva’ competition to assemble the youth delegation from England, ensuring that at least 50 per cent of the group has direct experience of the major issues facing children and young people in England today. At a local level, the project will recruit children's rights champions – young people leading local awareness-raising and advocacy. Carolyne Willow, CRAE's national co-ordinator, explains "This unique project will give children and young people in England information and support so they can get their views and experiences direct to the United Nations. But the work doesn't stop there – we will do all we can to support children and young people in influencing Government action on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's recommendations. We are incredibly excited because we know that children and young people are key to bringing about change and holding the Government to account for its human rights obligations". CRAE will be soon recruiting a dedicated team, including a young person who has personal experience of the challenges facing young people today. Contact Carolyne Willow if you want to be involved in the project which will begin in April 2007 - [email protected]. The UK Government must submit its next progress report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child no later than July 2007. The UN Committee will then take evidence from children and young people, human rights bodies and non-governmental organisations. It will examine the report from the UK in 2008 or 2009, then issue its recommendations for action. Further information
pdf: http://www.crae.org.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1