Child Rights Connect

Side event on adolescent girls’ rights - CEDAW 40th and CRC 30th anniversaries!
2019-10-25 13:30 - 14:45 (Europe/Paris) | Palais des Nations, Room XXVII, Switzerland
On 25 October you are invited to the side event “Paving the way for adolescent girls’ rights”. This is organized by Plan International in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the UN in Geneva, the CEDAW and CRC Committees, and co-sponsored by Child Rights Conenect, among others.
You can find below the panel where our Executive Director Alex Conte will be among the speakers.
Panellists:
– Neha from Nepal, Co-leader Girls’ Team for girl-led report to the CEDAW Committee
– Ministra María Alejandra Costa Prieto, Deputy Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Uruguay to the United Nations Office in Geneva
– Ms. Hilary Gbedemah, CEDAW Committee Chair
– Ms. Renate Winter, CRC Committee Vice-chair Mr.
– Alex Conte, Child Rights Connect Executive Director
Moderation by Ms. Rachel Tenorio, Young Professional, Plan International United Nations Office in Geneva
This event will shed light on how the CEDAW and CRC Committees are working towards the protection and advancement of adolescent girls’ rights by integrating a gender and age perspective into their work. It is an opportunity to look at achievements made so far and discuss how the Committees can collaborate to strengthen international guidance on adolescent girls’ rights. RSVP here!

30 years on from the Child Rights Convention: where are we on street children's rights?
2019-11-11 09:00 - 18:00 | Baker Mckenzie Office, London, 100 New Bridge St, London, England, EC4V6JA, Spain
Consortium for Street Children is organizing a conference titled “30 years on from the Child Rights Convention: where are we on street children’s rights?”. This conference will be held at Baker Mckenzie Office in London on the 11th November 2019 from 9am-6pm.
30 years on from the Child Rights Convention and 2 years after General Comment N. 21 on Children in Street Situations, street children around the world are still being denied their rights. You can join this event to discuss the progress made and hear about innovative solutions aimed at securing legal rights, protections and opportunities for street children.
Confirmed speakers: Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and Nima Elbagir, Senior International correspondent for CNN and award-winning journalist recognised for investigating human rights abuses and child labour across Africa.
Workshop topics and full list of confirmed speakers to be announced in September.

Defence for Children International: 3 side-events
2019-11-15
Defence for Children International in holding 3 side-events in November to celebrate both its 40th anniversary and the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
1) Children’s Rights Award: “Hear my Story, know my rights”
Defence for Children International (DCI) is a leading child rights-focused grassroots Movement founded in 1979, the first International Year of the Child. We promote and protect the human rights of children at the local, national, regional and international levels across 5 continents. In 2019, we will be celebrating 40 years of DCI’s active contribution to protecting and promoting the rights of children worldwide. DCI’s work focuses on 4 thematic priorities namely Justice for Children, Violence Against Children, Children on the Move and Children Affected by Conflicts. It also prioritizes 3 cross-cutting issues which include children deprived of liberty, child participation and gender.
Objectives:
2019 marks the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 40th of DCI. On this occasion, we would like to celebrate with children!
The objective of the Children’s Rights Award 2019 is to foster children’s participation and to include the whole DCI Movement in doing so. This edition calls upon the participation of all children between ages of 12-17 years in all the countries in which DCI is present. This will also include the involvement of National Sections who will be participating in the award in partnership with the DCI International Secretariat in Geneva. Through this DCI Award process DCI aims to highlight how children’s rights are perceived by those who are most directly concerned – children themselves. More than that, DCI wishes to use the process at the National level to interact with children in their communities to encourage a better understanding of their rights enshrined in UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, more specifically the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on which DCI focuses their work. Given that 2019 is also the 30th anniversary of this UN Convention, there will be also celebrations at the National level, with which the Award may be associated. The objective is to include as many children as possible through a wide participation of the DCI Movement worldwide in the competition entitled: HEAR MY STORY, KNOW MY RIGHTS.
DCI’s priority on child participation is underpinned by the Convention of the Rights of the Child, both Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) and Article 13 (right of every child to 12 express his or her views, also in judicial and administrative proceedings) as well as the Optional Protocol 3 to the Convention, which allows individual children to submit complaints regarding specific violations of their rights under the Convention and the Protocols. The Sustainable Development Goals (target 16.7) also call for responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Additionally, Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for non-discrimination of any kind and allows for the application of measures to ensure that children are protected from these discriminations which may occur.
The 2019 edition of the Children’s Rights Award aims to provide a platform for children to express their ideas, opinions, views, hopes and visions in regard to children’s rights. The two categories enable both an illustrative and detailed outlook of what children’s rights mean from the perspective of a child. There is broad range of issues and challenges that children face. For example, millions of children worldwide are affected by violence which means that what one child may see as a right to them may mean something completely different to another child in different country. As a grass-roots organisation promoting the rights of children, it is important to acknowledge the different barriers faced by children worldwide at voicing out their opinions whether due to language barriers or lack of opportunities to do so. Moreover, this will attract a wider range of participation both in terms of geographical diversity, eliminating potential language barriers and strengthening cooperation between National Sections and the DCI International Secretariat in Geneva.
Activities:
Child Rights from a Child’s Perspective:
DCI’s priority on child participation is underpinned by the Convention of the Rights of the Child, both Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) and Article 13 (right of every child to 12 express his or her views, also in judicial and administrative proceedings) as well as the Optional Protocol 3 to the Convention, which allows individual children to submit complaints regarding specific violations of their rights under the Convention and the Protocols. The Sustainable Development Goals (target 16.7) also call for responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Additionally, Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for non-discrimination of any kind and allows for the application of measures to ensure that children are protected from these discriminations which may occur.
The 2019 edition of the Children’s Rights Award aims to provide a platform for children to express their ideas, opinions, views, hopes and visions in regard to children’s rights. The two categories enable both an illustrative and detailed outlook of what children’s rights mean from the perspective of a child. There is broad range of issues and challenges that children face. For example, millions of children worldwide are affected by violence which means that what one child may see as a right to them may mean something completely different to another child in different country. As a grass-roots organisation promoting the rights of children, it is important to acknowledge the different barriers faced by children worldwide at voicing out their opinions whether due to language barriers or lack of opportunities to do so. Moreover, this will attract a wider range of participation both in terms of geographical diversity, eliminating potential language barriers and strengthening cooperation between National Sections and the DCI International Secretariat in Geneva.
Scope:
This competition will be open to children between the ages of 12 – 17 years old which will be split into 2 categories who reside in one of the countries where DCI is present:

Category A: a piece of artwork including video-clips, songs, and any other form of electronic creation.
Category B: a creation of a comics, pictures, posters or drawings of any form.

*See “Rules & Regulations” for specific delivery methods.
The two categories shall aim to express what child rights are to them. Participants have the freedom to interpret this question as they wish however the piece must clearly present a link and has to be apparent in order for judges to be able to provide an objective assessment.
Participants are also encouraged to link their submissions to one of DCI’s thematic priorities and cross-cutting issues:
 Justice for Children
 Violence Against Children
 Children on the Move
 Children affected by Conflict
 Children Deprived of Liberty
 Gender
 Children’s Participation
Child participation
This competition will be open to children between the ages of 12 – 17 years old residing in one of the countries where DCI is present. The first two winners of the International Round (the first winner of the Category A, and the first winner of the Category B) will receive as a prize, the opportunity to come to Geneva (probably during the week of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, TBC). During this week in Geneva, the international community will organize several events regarding the 30th anniversary, in which DCI will be able to participate. Therefore, the two winners will have the opportunity to attend to some of these events according to their age. DCI will also publish in the DCI Website, and other relevant media and publications, the winners and the best national participations.
This event will take place in Swiss Press Club (Geneva) on 15th November 2019 from 15h to 18h followed by a reception.

2) Screening of “Voices from the inside” and debate on children deprived of liberty
This event will take place in Swiss Press Club (Geneva) on 18th November 2019 from 18h30 to 21h30.

3) Group Discussion on Girl Human Rights Defenders
This event will take place in Palais des Nations, UN (Geneva) on 19th November 2019 from 14h30 to 15h30.
UN registration necessary
If you are interested to attend any of those events, please register here.

Save the Children: activities at various levels
2019-11-20
Save the Children is celebrating its centenary in 2019 and will engage in activities at various levels to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Convention, notably supporting a call for renewed commitments to the Convention and the SDG commitment to leave no one behind. As part of their plans, they will be involved in joint “Child Rights Now” activities and a joint event with CIVICUS and Child Rights Connect, during the 20 November Geneva Conference, with a possible focus on “Accountability with Children – Empowering children as civic actors to claim their rights and mobilize for change: good practices, challenges and lessons learned”.

Arigatou International: A Collaborative Study on the Contributions from Religious Communities
2019-11-20 - 2020-06-03
Arigatou International, in close collaboration with the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence against Children (SRSG) and other key partners, has initiated a study which consists of a review of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) from a multi-religious perspective. The primary authors of the study include distinguished academics specialized in the field of child’s rights, former chairpersons of the CRC Committee, as well as religious scholars from various faiths and backgrounds.

This collaborative study is taking place on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the CRC, which was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly the 20 November, 1989. Since its adoption, the CRC has become the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in history, and has resulted in the enactment of various laws and the adoption of numerous policies, constitutions, and programs to protect the rights of children around the world.
The study seeks to celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention and the resulting positive impacts it has had on child rights, but also serves to bridge the secular and religious divide in approaches and attitudes to fighting for child rights. The content of the CRC reflects common values inherent in all major religions around the world; the study seeks to highlight these commonalities and showcase the key role that religious leaders and communities play in influencing norms and values which can protect and promote the rights of the child. It also aims to raise awareness among religious communities on the importance of promoting the implementation of the CRC. Finally, it seeks to understand the perspectives of religious leaders and faith communities with regards to children’s rights and to encourage their commitment and endorsements to the CRC. The study does this by examining the contributions of faith communities to the CRC’s implementation and the objections raised by religious communities, including any reservations submitted by state parties on religious grounds.
The study will include strong, evidence-based statements on religious values and principles, and on harmful practices that are purportedly condoned in the name of religion. In addition, it will look at how to address opposition to and violation of children’s rights by some extremist religious groups.
Once completed, the study will be disseminated worldwide through various channels, and will be incorporated into the Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children and presented to the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July 2019, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the UN Faith Advisory Council and thereafter, to the UN General Assembly in September 2019. It will also be disseminated to international NGOs, the Global Network of Religions for Children, and to religious communities worldwide on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children on November 20, which is commemorated annually to raise the status of the child and promote the CRC. It will be translated into additional languages and available in print and online.
