Participation Works

The Children’s Rights Director for England has published a report on children and young people’s views on rights and responsibilities.

Children and young people were asked for their views via a national children’s conference, a survey and from visits to four boarding schools and one residential special school. Altogether  written views were received from 1,834 children and young people.

The survey asked children whether having one list of rights and responsibilities is a good idea. A large majority (70%) of those who answered this question thought that it would be a good idea to have one list of the rights and responsibilities everyone has, but a quarter (25%) thought this would not be a good idea. Key reasons given by those who thought that it was a good idea were that it is important for people to know what rights they have and what is expected of them and second that having a list of rights and responsibilities would help people to have their say and be listened to. Children and young people who were in favour said, “‘Because every child has the right to know their rights and responsibilities’ and ‘Because everybody will know where they stand’.

Children and young people filling in the survey were also asked what they thought were the most important responsibilities that all children should have. 40 percent of children and young people said that they thought that children should have responsibility for their own behaviour and actions, 31 percent said making use of education and 25 percent said showing respect to others.

When asked which rights they thought were the most important the two top rights that came from children themselves and which scored more highly than most Human Rights Act or Convention rights were the right not to be bullied, and the right to keep in touch with parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters as long as each person wants to keep in touch.

The report’s key findings include that children and young people saw people being treated equally and fairly as a major right in itself and argues that consideration should be given to including this right as a clear separate statement in any future Act, Bill or Charter of Rights and Responsibilities. The report recommends that any future UK Act, Bill or Charter of Rights and Responsibilities needs to take on board that the children and young people who gave their views in the research included in their top 10 priorities the existing Human Rights Act and United Nations Convention rights of being protected from abuse; having an education; being helped to keep alive and well; not suffering discrimination; not being treated or punished in a cruel or demeaning way; disabled children being given special help; and privacy and confidentiality of written and electronic communications. The report recommends  that any future Act, Bill or Charter of Rights and Responsibilities also needs to take note of the two new rights that children added in this top 10 of the right not to be bullied, and the right to keep in touch with parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters.

Fri, 05/03/2010 - 16:13