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Rights of the Child UK Post-Conference Report Launched

On 7 July 2025, Together joined colleagues from the Rights of the Child UK (ROCK) Steering Group to launch the Post-Conference Report from the ROCK Annual Conference 2024 – a day that brought together over 90 children’s rights advocates, decision-makers and academics from across the UK, Jersey and Iceland.

Held in Edinburgh on 17 September 2024, the conference was hosted by Together in partnership with the ROCK Steering Group, with generous funding from Elevate Great (formerly Cattanach).

The conference offered a vital opportunity to reflect on progress – and gaps – in how children’s rights are being taken forward in law, policy and practice across the UK. Speakers shared updates from each jurisdiction, drew on international experience, and explored how best to respond to the UN Committee’s 2023 Concluding Observations.

Throughout the day, there was a strong call for action: to push for full incorporation of the UNCRC across all UK jurisdictions, strengthen systems for monitoring and accountability, and ensure that babies, children and young people are meaningfully involved in shaping decisions that affect them.

The Post-Conference Report captures these priorities and outlines practical next steps. These include a commitment from ROCK to develop a coordinated UK-wide strategy for incorporation, alongside stronger cross-sector collaboration and improved tools to support implementation.

ROCK is a coalition of voluntary organisations and individuals working together to embed children’s human rights into law, policy and practice.

ROCK’s work is guided by its Steering Group, which comprises representatives from leading child rights alliances across the UK, including: Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights); Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE); Children in Wales; Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group; Children’s Law Centre; and UNICEF UK.