Wales made history when the Welsh Government made a legally-binding commitment to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into all government decisions and actions.   
 

The UNCRC sets out basic rights for under-18’s: civil rights like due process, non-discrimination and the right to be heard, and also social and economic rights like a decent standard of living, education and health care services. The UNCRC sets out duties on governments to support families and communities to help ensure children can access these rights.
 
The Wales Observatory on Human Rights of Children and Young People, based at Swansea University, was closely linked with this pioneering move, a role that was recognised in a recent award that the Observatory won for the impact of their research. 

Watch a short film from the conference, giving experts' views on children's rights across the UK,  (credit ANM media)

Conference programme

Delegates for the conference came from many disciplines and organisations as well as from academic backgrounds. They include a number of young people from Funky Dragon, the Young People’s Assembly for Wales, and Swansea Young Single Homeless Project.  The conference was sponsored by the Welsh Government.
 
Speakers included Jeff Cuthbert, the Welsh Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, along with academic experts in children’s rights including Professor Barbara Bennett Woodhouse (Emory Law Scholl, Atlanta, Georgia) who is studying the way the Observatory has supported use of the UNCRC in Wales, Professor Ton Liefhaard, UNICEF Chair in Human Rights from University of Leiden in Holland, and Professor Michael Freeman from University College London, amongst others.
 
Picture: Christopher Walburn, Alexandra Atkins, Catherine Jones, Victoria Madden: members of Funky Dragon, the Children and Young People's Assembly for Wales, who led sessions at the conference.

Jane Williams of Swansea University, co-director of the Wales Observatory, said:
 
"The conference is being held at an important and challenging time for children’s rights in Wales. Children’s rights have by law become a factor in all Welsh Government decisions and actions, yet the Government like all public bodies faces difficult fiscal conditions and hard choices.
 
Despite many government strategies that declare support for the rights of children and young people, Wales has high levels of child poverty, social exclusion and teenage pregnancies, health issues such as childhood obesity, and persistent issues about discrimination and bullying of minority and vulnerable groups.
 
We will hear from all four UK countries about how children’s rights are being protected and about the challenges of implementation. We welcome distinguished experts on children’s rights from Europe, North and South America and the far east." 
 
The City and County of Swansea are the first local authority in northern Europe to have self-imposed a duty of ‘due regard’ to the UNCRC. This policy was launched at The Hub, Swansea University, almost a year ago.
 
City and County of Swansea contributed to the conference, as are Pembrokeshire County Council, which has recently announced its own approach to UNCRC implementation. The Wales Observatory is assisting both authorities as they implement these innovative strategies on children’s rights.