http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9884-5401
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ABSTRACT
While public policies increasingly reference the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and consultations with children and young people are becoming routine, there is as yet no agreed understanding of what a children’s rights-based approach to policymaking should look like. With a view to addressing this gap in the practice and scholarship of children’s rights, this article discusses some core elements of children’s rights-based policy. In doing so, we offer a framework for understanding children’s rights-based approaches to policy based on the following six ‘Ps’: the principles/provisions of the CRC; the process of children’s rights impact assessment; the participation of children and young people; partnership to ensure joined up working; public budgeting to ensure that the resources are in place for implementation; and publicity to make policies known to children and young people. It will be argued that a human rights-based approach to policy formation, for children and others, requires a focus not just on rights-holders and their outcomes but also on their substantive rights and the information, resources and collaboration required to make them a reality.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Bronagh Byrne is Co-Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights and a Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast. She is also Co-Chair of the Disability Research Network at Queen’s. Dr Byrne’s expertise is in the rights of children and young people with disabilities with a particular focus on education, transitions, and the implementation of the UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Rights of the Child. She has published widely on disability and the right to inclusive education and has been a principal or co-investigator in a range of interdisciplinary research projects funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the Council of Europe, public bodies such as the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People and leading charitable foundations such as UNICEF, Barnardos and Action on Hearing Loss.
Laura Lundy is Professor in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast,Co-Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights and co-Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Children’s Rights. Her expertise is in children’s right to participate in decision-making and education rights.Her 2007 paper, ‘“Voice” is not enough,’ is one of the most highly cited academic papers on children’s rights, proposing a model of children’s participation based on four key concepts – Space, Voice, Audience and Influence. Professor Lundy has developed and applied right-based participatory methodologies with children of all ages in diverse social and geographical contexts.Current research includes disabled children’s experience of their digital rights, and ‘Participation for Protection’ – European Commission training for professionals to serve children who have experienced violence. As part of her research, Professor Lundy also facilitates public understanding of children’s rights through co-production of user- and child-friendly versions of legal documents. She acts as expert advisor on child participation to Child Rights Connect; and provides advice and training on children’s rights to a wide range of other international organisations including the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Council of Europe, European Commission and UNICEF.
Notes
1 The United States of America has not yet ratified the CRC.
2 Article 4, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
3 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 19 on Public Budgeting for the Realization of Children’s Rights (Art. 4), CRC/C/GC/19 (2016), para. 4.
4 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5 General Measures of Implementation, CRC/GC/2003/1(2003). For further discussion of the General Comments, see Tara Collins (this issue).
5 Laura Lundy and Lesley McEvoy, ‘Childhood, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Research: What Constitutes a “Rights-Based” Approach?’ in Law and Childhood: Current Legal Issues, ed. Michael Freeman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 14: 75–91.
6 UN Development Group, The Human Rights-Based Approach to Development Cooperation: Towards a Common Understanding among the UN Agencies (2003).
7 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5.
8 See Kay Tisdall et al., this issue.
9 See Simon Hoffman, this issue.
10 Laura Lundy, ‘United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Child Well-Being’, in Handbook of Child Well-Being, ed. Asher Ben-Arieh (Netherlands: Springer, 2014), 2439–62.
11 UN Development Group, The Human Rights-Based Approach, 1.
12 Michael Freeman, ‘The Future of Children’s Rights’, Children and Society 14, no. 4 (2000): 277.
13 Bronagh Byrne, ‘Minding the Gap: Children with Disabilities and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’, in Law and childhood: Current Legal Issues, ed. Michael Freeman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 14: 419–37; Ursula Kilkelly and Laura Lundy, ‘The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Its Use as an Auditing Tool’, Child and Family Law Quarterly 18, no. 3 (2006): 331.
14 Phillip E. Veerman, ‘The Ageing of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child’, The International Journal of Children’s Rights 18, no. 4 (2010): 585.
15 Karl Hanson and Laura Lundy, ‘Does Exactly What It Says on the Tin?’ The International Journal of Children’s Rights 25, no. 2 (2017): 285.
16 Laura Lundy, Ursula Kilkelly, and Bronagh Byrne, ‘Incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Law: A Comparative Review’, The International Journal of Children’s Rights 21, no. 3 (2013): 442. See also Ursula Kilkelly (this issue).
17 Hanson and Lundy, ‘Does Exactly What It Says on the Tin?’
18 Laura Lundy, ‘Children’s Rights and Educational Policy in Europe: The Implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’, Oxford Review of Education 38, no. 4 (2012): 393.
19 Bronagh Byrne and Laura Lundy, ‘Reconciling Children’s Policy and Children’s Rights: Barriers to Effective Government Delivery’, Children and Society 29, no. 4 (2015): 266.
20 Ibid.
21 New Zealand Government, The White Paper for Vulnerable Children (2012).
22 Welsh Government, Programme for Children and Young People (Empowering Children and Young People Branch Fairer Futures Division, 2015); Flemish Parliament, Flemish Action Plan for Children’s Rights 2011-2014 (‘Vlaams Actieplan Kinderrechten’ [VAK], 2011).
23 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5.
24 Jane Williams, The UNCRC in Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2015); Bronagh Byrne, Siobhan McAlister, and Katrina Lloyd, Evaluation of UNICEF UK Child Rights Partners Programme (London: UNICEF UK, 2017).
25 Paul Hunt and Gillian MacNaughton, Impact Assessments, Poverty and Human Rights: A Case Study Using The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (UNESCO, 2006); Anna Datta and Justin Frewen, ‘The Importance of Gender-Proofing Government Policies to Ensure They Do Not Negatively Impact upon Women’s Mental Health Inequalities’, European Psychiatry 27, no. 1 (2012): 1461; John Glasson, Riki Therivel, and Andrew Chadwick, Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment, 4th ed. (Oxon: Routledge, 2012).
26 Nic Mason and Kirsten Hanna, Undertaking Child Impact Assessments in Aetearoa New Zealand Local Authorities: Evidence, Practice, Ideas (New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology. 2009).
27 For further discussion of CRIAs see article by Lisa Payne, this issue.
28 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5, 35.
29 See for example, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations on the Fifth Periodic Report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, CRC/C/GBR/CO/5 (2016), 9.
30 Eleanor Drywood, ‘Child-Proofing’ EU Law and Policy: Interrogating the Law-Making Processes Behind European Asylum and Immigration Provision’, International Journal of Children’s Rights 19 (2011): 405.
31 Lisa Payne, Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA): A Review of Comparative Practice Across the UK (London: UNICEF, 2017).
32 Lundy, Kilkelly and Byrne, Incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Law.
33 Simon Hoffman, Evaluation of the Welsh Government’s Child Rights Impact Assessment procedure under the Children’s Rights Scheme Pursuant to the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 (Swansea: Wales Observatory on Human Rights of Children and Young People, 2015).
34 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5, 48.
35 UN Development Group, Human Rights-Based Approach, 1.
36 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12 on the Right of the Child to Be Heard, CRC/C/GC/12 (2009), 92.
37 Department of Children and Youth Affairs, National Strategy on Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making, 2015–2020 (Dublin: Government, 2015).
38 Marian Barnes, Janet Newman, and Helen Sullivan, Power, Participation and Political Renewal: Case Studies in Public Participation (Bristol: Policy Press, 2007).
39 Nigel Cantwell, ‘Are Children’s Rights Still Human?’ in The Human Rights of Children: From Visions to Implementation, ed. Jane Williams and Antonella Invernizzi (London: Routledge, 2011), 37–59.
40 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12, 97.
41 Ibid., 27.
42 Tali Gal and Benedetta Faedi Duramy, International Perspectives and Empirical Findings on Child Participation: From Social Exclusion to Child-Inclusive Policies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
43 Laura Lundy and Helen Stalford, Children’s Rights and Participation: Background Paper for Eurochild (Eurochild, 2013).
44 Gal and Durami, International Perspectives and Empirical Findings.
45 Laura Lundy, ‘Voice Is Not Enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’, British Educational Research Journal 33, no. 6 (2007): 927; Karen Orr et al., Enabling the Exercise of Civil and Political Rights: The Views of Children (Save the Children, 2016). Accessed at https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/enabling-exercise-civil-and-political-rights-views-children; Gerison Lansdown, Every Child’s Right to Be Heard: A Resource Guide on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 12 (London: UNICEF and Save the Children, 2011).
46 Kay Tisdall, ‘Addressing the Challenges of Children and Young People’s Participation: Considering Time and Space’ in International Perspectives and Empirical Findings on Child Participation: From Social Exclusion to Child-Inclusive Policies, ed. Tali Gal and Benedetta Faedi Duramy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 381–403.
47 Lansdown, Every Child’s Right to Be Heard.
48 Lena Thu Phuong Ngyuen, Child Responsive Accountability: Lessons from Social Accountability (UNICEF Office of Research, 2013).
49 UN Human Rights Council, Rights of the Child: Towards Better Investment in the Rights of the Child, A/HRC/28/L.28 (2015); European Commission, Investing in Children: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage (Commission Recommendation of 20.2.2013).
50 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 19 on Public Budgeting for the Realization of Children’s Rights (Art. 4), CRC/C/GC/19 (2016), 21.
51 Ibid., 55.
52 Chelsea Marshall, Laura Lundy, and Karen Orr, Child- Participatory Budgeting: A Review of Global Practice (Plan International, 2016); Debbie Budlender and Paula Proudlock, Are Children’s Rights Prioritised at a Time of Budget Cuts? Assessing the Adequacy of the 2013/14 Social Development Budgets for Funding of Children’s Act Services (Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, 2009).
53 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 19, 11.
54 Aoife Nolan, ‘Economic and Social Rights, Budgets and the Convention on the Rights of the Child’, The International Journal of Children’s Rights 21, no. 2 (2013): 248.
55 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 19, 31.
56 Ibid.
57 Marshall, Lundy, and Orr, Child- Participatory Budgeting.
58 Orr et al, Enabling the Exercise of Civil and Political Rights.
59 Marshall, Lundy, and Orr, Child- Participatory Budgeting.
60 For a discussion on policy networks see article by Tisdall et al., this issue.
61 The World Conference on Human Rights, UN Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, A/CONF.157/23 (1993).
62 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 13 on the Right of the Child to Have His or Her Best Interests Taken as a Primary Consideration, CRC/C/GC/13 (2013), 2.
63 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5, 27.
64 Ibid., 37.
65 Ibid.
66 Byrne and Lundy, ‘Reconciling Children’s Policy’.
67 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 9, on the Rights of Children with Disabilities, CRC/C/GC/9 (2007), 21.
68 Bronagh Byrne, Lisa Katrina Maguire, and Laura Lundy, Reporting on Best Practice in Cross-Departmental Working Practices for Children and Young People (Belfast: Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, 2016).
69 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 5, 48.
70 Ibid., 66.
71 Chelsea Marshall, Bronagh Byrne, and Laura Lundy, ‘Face to Face: Children and Young People’s Right to Participate in Public Decision-Making’, in International Perspectives and Empirical Findings on Child Participation: From Social Exclusion to Child-Inclusive Policies, ed. Tali Gal and Benedetta Faredi Durami (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 357–80.
72 Bronagh Byrne and Laura Lundy, Barriers to Effective Government Delivery for Children in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, 2011).
73 Ibid.
74 Save the Children, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 19, Child-Friendly Version (2016) accessed at https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/uncrc-general-comment-no-19-2016-public-budgeting-realization-childrens-rights-art-4.