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Author: Sam Nelson

Blog: On the Road to Rights

17 January 2025
Sam Nelson
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Categories: Blog

17 January 2025

In our latest blog, NICCY youth panel member, Charlotte Wysner, outlines her work to educate others about rights, and her aspiration to have the voice of children and young people heard.

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Written by Charlotte Wysner
NICCY Youth Panel Member

I have been a part of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Youth (NICCY) for over a year now. Throughout my time I have been given an open space to share my opinions and have my voice heard. I have worked on projects from RSE education in schools to the more recent children’s rights workshops.

On the 19th of November, I delivered one of several workshops carried out by NICCY about Children’s rights across Northern Ireland. Together, we as NICCY set a goal to educate children and youth on their rights and the UNCRC as well as find out their views on how these rights are being upheld and respected.

I delivered one workshop to two groups of around 20 students aged 12-17. The workshops all went very well, and I know that in my case I learnt just as much from the attendees as I hope they did from me.

Through this experience, I was also given the rare opportunity to chair a panel between heads of NICCY, Translink, the local Council and the groups of children and youth attending all the workshops provided by NICCY and Translink Youth Form (TYF) that day.

The whole day and experience provided me with a further in-depth understanding of a broader range of children’s rights that children and young people of Northern Ireland don’t feel are being respected or protected.

Throughout my time in these projects, I learnt about the importance of the UNCRC as well as the power it holds.

Having been a part of conversations surrounding the anti-age discrimination proposals that were discussed recently which could potentially exclude under 16 year olds, it has become ever clearer that these rights that are so powerful and so important are not being upheld.

This is nothing less than a crime against our country’s youngest generations. How can we ever expect our youth to grow up with a confident understanding of themselves if no one listens to them or abides by the rules written in International Conventions?

Being part of NICCY has taught me so much about my voice and opinions as well as their importance. It has given me confidence in myself as a public speaker and has helped develop me as a person.

Children and youth in Northern Ireland, and throughout the UK, should feel the same level of security and pride in their voices, their rights are being respected and upheld in full.

These ideas are very possible – we simply need to redirect our priorities back onto the correct path. I hope to help over my time at NICCY to make a positive difference in these issues and witness the growth of Northern Ireland into a new era, where those in power understand the importance of children and young people’s voices.

Paddy Kelly Steps Down After 27 Years at the Children’s Law Centre

7 January 2025
Sam Nelson
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Categories: Jobs, News

07 January 2025

Children’s Law Centre (CLC) Director Paddy Kelly has announced she will be stepping down after leading the organisation for over 27 years. Paddy set up the Centre in September 1997 and has led its growth into the leading children’s rights charity in Northern Ireland. Paddy will be leaving the Centre in the best shape it has ever been after an extraordinarily successful career at CLC.

Under Paddy’s leadership, CLC has been instrumental in securing a number of major developments in the protection of children’s rights. This has included the implementation of important recommendations by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, such as the establishment of the NI Commissioner for Children and Young People in 2003. Other key achievements include helping secure the Children’s Services Co-operation Act (NI) 2015, ensuring the delivery of a vulnerable child action plan during the pandemic, and more recently, challenging the NI Secretary of State’s 2023-24 ‘Punishment Budget’.

The Children’s Law Centre will now be recruiting for a new Chief Executive Officer to lead the organisation into the future.

Alicia Toal, Chairperson at Children’s Law Centre

Announcing the news, Paddy said: “Establishing and growing the Children’s Law Centre into what it is today has been an amazing journey. It has been a huge privilege to lead the Centre for over 25 years and I’m delighted I can step down with the future of the organisation looking so positive.

“I have been able to lead a team of dedicated and experienced staff over the years and I’m extremely proud of what we have achieved together. Not only have we secured major changes to enhance protections for children, we’ve also changed the lives of tens of thousands of children and young people directly through advice and legal representation.

“I look forward to seeing what the organisation can achieve over the next 27 years.”

Responding to the news, CLC Chairperson, Alicia Toal, said: “I want to express my sincere thanks to Paddy for all her hard work, dedication and commitment throughout the years. The role she played in establishing and growing the Children’s Law Centre has had a real and positive impact on the lives of so many children and young people.

“Paddy has also carefully built the reputation of the Centre over the past years, growing an organisation that can be trusted, relied upon for its expertise and committed to securing changes that will make a real difference. As a result, CLC has a strong reputation among the public, statutory bodies, decision makers, legal professionals and the judiciary. It also has a strong reputation for working with partners in the UK and Ireland, as well as being respected by international experts in children’s rights. None of this would have been possible without Paddy’s drive and commitment to children’s rights.

“The Children’s Law Centre will now be recruiting for a new Chief Executive Officer to lead the organisation into the future. We are working with our recruitment partners at Engage, who will be leading the recruitment process.”

Find out more information on how to apply for the post of CEO.

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Children’s Rights Cannot be an Afterthought for the PSNI

3 December 2024
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

03 December 2024

A new review of children and young people and policing, published by the NI Policing Board, has highlighted the scale of human rights breaches facing children and young people when in contact with the police.

The report highlights a range of issues of serious concern, repeatedly raised over many years by the Children’s Law Centre, including concerns around uses of force, misuse of police powers, the lack of disaggregated data, issues around arrest and custody arrangements, the practice of strip-searching children, the low age of criminal responsibility and much more.

The report represents the most substantive effort by the NI Policing Board to examine the human rights implications for children of policing practice in Northern Ireland in over a decade.

Fergal McFerran, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the Children’s Law Centre commented on the report saying:

“This report clearly demonstrates that the foot has well and truly come off the pedal in terms of scrutiny of these issues over the last decade. As a result, when the PSNI should have been embedding human rights protections for children and young people in how they operate, they have instead regressed.

“Increased scrutiny over the last number of years, driven by the Children’s Law Centre and others, has highlighted a growing range of concerns, with children’s human rights too often looking like an afterthought, if at all.

“The Children’s Law Centre welcomes this attempt to catalogue the range of children’s rights issues and breaches. That includes efforts to highlight international obligations and best practice, as well as the views of children themselves. However, and worryingly, the range and seriousness of the challenges which exist are too often not reflected in the final recommendations.

“What is absolutely clear is that significant improvements in policing practices are urgently required. This includes getting back to the core of human rights centred policing, a change of attitude from police towards children and young people, and the need for the PSNI and others responsible for policing, to genuinely listen to the views and experiences of children and young people and act on the concerns they raise.”

CLC Welcomes Ministerial Intervention on Respite

23 October 2024
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

23 October 2024

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt MLA announces additional multi-year funding to tackle failures in respite services

The intervention follows a recent Spotlight documentary ‘I Am Not OK’

The Minister met with families from the documentary, the Children’s Law Centre and the National Autistic Society on Tuesday 22nd October to discuss the new measures

The Children’s Law Centre has welcomed a Ministerial intervention seeking to address failures in the provision of respite services for children as a first step. The announcement includes an additional £2m in the current financial year and £13m a year in additional multi-year funding.

A solicitor at the Children’s Law Centre who has represented numerous children in legal challenges to secure respite provision has welcomed the announcement, but highlighted the need to see meaningful improvements for children and their families.

Eamonn McNally, a solicitor at Children’s Law Centre, said: “The systemic failures around respite services have been ongoing for years and have had a devastating impact on disabled children and their families. At the Children’s Law Centre we have seen the impact it is having on our clients first hand. We have seen children taken into residential care, family break down and families placed at risk, all because of a failure to provide for the assessed needs of children.

“I want to pay tribute to the families involved in securing this announcement, as well as the work of the National Autistic Society. Their bravery in telling their story, while also battling the everyday challenges they are dealt with must be recognised.

“We want to welcome this intervention by the Minister as a first step. It is now absolutely critical that the trusts use the additional resources effectively and start to deliver meaningful change for children and families. We need to see an immediate impact on the current pressures, as well as long term stability around services. This will require effective accountability mechanisms to scrutinise implementation by the health trusts and ongoing consultation with families affected, as well as pooling of resources between trusts.

“We look forward to continued work with the Minister, his Department and the health trusts to address the current crisis.”

Blog: Equality in Education

9 September 2024
Sam Nelson
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Categories: Blog

9th September 2024

Member of the NI Youth Assembly, Clodagh McKenna, discusses her recent participation in a CLC co-design workshop and outlines how children’s rights help guarantee equality in education.

Written by Clodagh McKenna

I am a member of the Northern Ireland Youth Assembly and I am passionate about making a positive change in young people’s lives. I felt inspired when the Youth Assembly recently met with young people from Children’s Law Centre, Angel Eyes, VOYPIC and Barnardo’s NI’s Syrian Youth Voices to aid the development of the education and Special Educational Needs sections of REE Rights Responder which offers free online legal advice to children and helps them understand what their rights are.

Children’s educational rights is a topic that is dear to me because I want to ensure that every child has access to a quality education. Unfortunately, education still remains an unattainable right for millions of children around the world. Almost 60 million children of primary education age are not in school. [1]This leads to adults not having the skills necessary to be able to improve both their living conditions of those and of their children, thus leaving the family to fall further into poverty and unable to escape this cycle.

Article 28 of the United Nations Convention in the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)[2] says that “children and young people have the right to education no matter who they are: regardless of race, gender or disability; if they are in detention or if they are a refugee.” Children’s educational rights encompasses the right to access education that is free from discrimination, the right to be able to learn in an inclusive and safe environment and the right to receive a quality education that will help them equip the skills and knowledge that will prepare them for the challenges of the modern world. By being able to guarantee these rights, this can empower children to achieve their full potential, contribute meaningfully and create a difference in society. In time, this could help break the cycle of poverty and inequality.

Department of Education statistics show that in the academic year to June 2023, 96,000 pupils had chronic or severe chronic attendance issues. An additional 100,041 children were in the “at risk” category.[3] The significance of education is a fundamental right that all children should have, as it lays the foundation for a child’s future successes, life and well-being. No child should ever miss out on an education, as it is the right of the child to receive an education. It is crucial to uphold children’s educational rights; ensuring all children regardless of their background, or circumstances that they face, are granted equal opportunities to learn and to grow.

By advocating for children’s educational rights, we can promote inclusive and equitable educational systems. This can develop a brighter future for every child so that all children can receive an education that they deserve.

Find out more about REE Rights Responder at reerights.com

Image of a group of young people standing on the steps of The Great Hall in Stormont's Parliament Buildings.

References:

[1] Max Roser (2021) – “Access to basic education: almost 60 million children of primary school age are not in school” Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: https://ourworldindata.org/children-not-in-school

[2] Convention on the Rights of the Child | OHCHR

[3] Department of Education Circular 2023/11 – Attendance Guidance and Absence Recording by Schools­: https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/publications/attendance-guidance-absence-recording-by-schools-circular-202311

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