Participation Works

The Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) have published a new report which is based on the findings of a nationwide children’s rights investigation led and developed by children and young people.

The report ‘What do they know? Investigating the human rights concerns of children and young people in England’ reviews the state of children’s human rights in England and looks at situations where children and young people are unable to realise their rights including school, at home and in their communities.

In total 1,708 children took part in the children’s rights investigation, which was carried out, by children and young people from the Get Ready for Geneva project, supported by CRAE. The investigators designed 7 surveys on the themes of education, respect, freedom, family and friends, crime, health and safety, and play, which were filled out by 1,362 children. Focus group interviews were held with 346 children. The report shows what children think about the issues that affect them in their lives and how well they feel their rights are being respected.

The report’s key findings on the theme of respect and freedom are that many children feel that they are discriminated against and there is unfair stereotyping of children and young people. Many children felt that the media played a key role in the stereotyping of children. A child from the survey said, “The older generations generally jump to conclusions about the younger generations through the media.” The report argues that there is a lot of discrimination affecting children and that discrimination based on age should be treated the same as discrimination based on sex or race.

On friends and family the key issues highlighted in the survey were smacking, children being humiliated and criticised at home, supporting families, the rights of children living in particular situations and children making their own choices about religion and belief.

The health and safety survey and focus groups found that children feel stressed out and pressurised, are concerned about the accessibility of health services and lack of accessibility to counselling services for children, the high cost and lack of recreational facilities and want more information about healthy living.

On education key issues highlighted were involvement in decision-making and being respected in school, bullying and feeling safe in school. Children taking part in the survey were asked if their school listens to what they have to say. Only 30.3 percent of children that answered the survey said their school always listens to them.

The key findings on play and leisure included accessibility and conditions of play facilities, not having enough free time to play, feeling safe outdoors, not having enough things to do and facilities not being appropriate for all children.

On crime the key findings were that crime and especially gun and knife crime was a major concern. Children taking part in the survey felt that a lack of things to do has a big influence on whether children and young people get involved in crime.

The report makes 14 key recommendations to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to ask the UK Government to take action on. The children’s rights investigators, with support from CRAE, will now be using the report’s findings to develop three national human rights campaigns focusing on age discrimination and the media, counselling and confidentiality and the right to education for young refugees and asylum seekers.

Tue, 17/02/2009 - 10:27