Stop, Look, Listen: the road to realising children’s rights in Wales (2007)

On 20 November 2007, to mark the 18^th birthday of the UNCRC, the UNCRC Monitoring Group published Stop, Look, Listen: the road to realising children’s rights in Wales. The report reveals that Wales has progressed significantly on children’s rights but that more needs to be done.

Righting the Wrongs: the reality of children's rights in Wales

In January 2006 the UNCRC Monitoring Group held a conference to launch "Righting the wrongs: the reality of children's rights in Wales". This conference and report launched the 3rd/4th round of reporting to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Wales and was an opportunity to hear from the Chair of the UN Committee.   The "Righting the Wrongs" Report has been used with the report of the conference for the UNCRC Monitoring Group to highlight the need for further changes as they affect children in Wales.

Click here for the scoping exercise to find out how far the UNCRC has been incorporated into the professional curricula of professionals working with children and young people in Wales and to establish what training is currently being delivered on the UNCRC in Wales and who is delivering it.

Children & Young People's Report

A steering group of 12 young people has been elected from the Funky Dragon Council to ensure that children's views are heard and acted on when reporting to the UN Committee.  The steering group visited the UNICEF (What do you think project') in Belgium in April 2006, where there were a steering group of 40 young people who delivered on Belgium's first children's report. 

Supporting materials are being produced including a DVD on the history of children's rights and the UNCRC, a UNCRC educational pack and potentially a web page dedicated to the UNCRC. These are being designed to assist the research process and to raise awareness of the UNCRC and children's rights.

Research will be carried out with young people (11-18) across Wales to determine their views on their rights by Swansea University from September 2006-December 2007.   It is anticipated the children's report will be available end 2007, beginning 2008.

Timetable for the Preparation of the State Party Report

1. In June 2006 the UNCRC Monitoring Group held seminars with WAG government officials on the UNCRC and the reporting process, to develop their understanding of the Convention before submitting their contributions to the Welsh Assembly Government UNCRC report
2. A draft report went out for consultation in September/October, which was responded to by the UNCRC Monitoring Group, along with the Children's Commissioner Office, Funky Dragon and the Wales Local Government Association.  
3. A final draft report was presented to the WAG Children and Young People's Cabinet Sub-Committee on 4 December 2006. 
4. A young people friendly version was produced with a submission to the Department for Education & Skills (DfES) in December 2006.  A final published copy of the Wales report was published in March 2007 to which the UNCRC Monitoring Group will respond.
5. The UK Governments UK Government Periodic Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child was submitted on 15 July 2007