EVENT: Convention on the Rights of the Child - 25 Years On...

On Wednesday 12^th November the Children’s Human Rights Network marked 25 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child with an evening of lively discussion. The event was a great success with unique insights offered from a range of speakers. Audience members left feeling inspired and motivated to raise awareness about the Convention and further the cause of children’s rights.

Our keynote speaker Professor Geraldine Van Buren offered a personal look at how the drafters of the Convention were able to overcome strong opposition and bring the Convention into being. As Geraldine told the audience, the fact that the Convention has gone on to become the most widely ratified treaty in the world only goes to show that if you have the energy and the conviction anything is possible!

Rob Freer, Amnesty International USA Researcher, discussed one of the major challenges to the Convention – the continued failure of the US to ratify it. As South Sudan and Somalia (the only other countries which are not bound by the Convention) move towards ratification the 25^th anniversary of the Convention seems the perfect time to call on the USA to ratify.

Sam Royston, Head of Policy at The Children’s Society then took us through some of the problems with the application of the Convention in the UK. Child poverty, access to education and social security provision were just some of the key areas where The Children’s Society felt more could be done to protect and implement the rights enshrined in the Convention.

Finally we heard from Amber Grant, an  Amnesty youth activist, who asked what good is the Convention if children and young people like her do not know it exists? Audience members were challenged to go out and spread the world of the Convention in the hope that in the future everyone will know what rights children have and what needs to be done to protect them. Read Amber's guest post on the CRC. 

We would like to thank everyone who came and helped make this evening such a success. Be sure to look out for more of our events in the future.

Our campaign calling on the USA to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child is continuing until March 2015, please get involved and get more people signing the petition!