Implementing Children's Rights in Northern Ireland: A Collaborative Approach with the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Education
Abstract
This project will support the implementation of children's rights in Northern Ireland. The UK ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the CRC) in 1990 and its obligations apply equally across the UK, including the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. While there have been some legislative developments in other parts of the UK in relation to children's rights, in Northern Ireland this has not been the case. Recent research carried out by Queen's University Belfast on behalf of NICCY highlighted a number of significant barriers to the implementation of children's rights in Northern Ireland and indicated a need for a much more consistent and systematic application of a children's rights framework to policy and practice.
The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People was established in 2003 under the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Northern Ireland) Order. The principal aim of the Commissioner is to safeguard and promote the rights and best interests of children and young people, including through keeping under review the adequacy and effectiveness of law and practice relating to the rights and welfare of children and young people.
This project will take the form of an academic placement within NICCY. The placement will build upon the recommendations of the recent research carried out by Queen's University Belfast. Specifically, the placement fellow will develop a policy briefing on legislative mechanisms for implementing children's rights in Northern Ireland. The policy briefing will: review existing mechanisms and models of children's rights implementation as adopted by other countries; identify the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches, and the challenges experienced in their development; and assess their suitability for implementing children's rights in Northern Ireland. As part of this activity, the placement fellow will organise a workshop inviting policymakers and representatives from local community and voluntary sector organisations, to facilitate the exchange of ideas with respect to legislative measures that could be taken to implement children's rights in Northern Ireland, including the possible content of any Children's Rights Bill. The placement fellow will also work with NICCY to disseminate and publicise the policy briefing with policymakers, community and voluntary organisations and other key stakeholders. The project team will engage directly with key child rights NGOs including Children in Northern Ireland and the Children's Law Centre, and academics through an Advisory Group, which will meet regularly over the lifetime of the project.
The project will enable NICCY to draw upon independent academic expertise in an area of identified need, and give the project team the opportunity to positively impact upon the policy and practice in this domain. Ultimately, it is envisaged that the project will lead to more effective implementation of children's rights in Northern Ireland, to the overall benefit of children and young people therein.
The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People was established in 2003 under the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Northern Ireland) Order. The principal aim of the Commissioner is to safeguard and promote the rights and best interests of children and young people, including through keeping under review the adequacy and effectiveness of law and practice relating to the rights and welfare of children and young people.
This project will take the form of an academic placement within NICCY. The placement will build upon the recommendations of the recent research carried out by Queen's University Belfast. Specifically, the placement fellow will develop a policy briefing on legislative mechanisms for implementing children's rights in Northern Ireland. The policy briefing will: review existing mechanisms and models of children's rights implementation as adopted by other countries; identify the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches, and the challenges experienced in their development; and assess their suitability for implementing children's rights in Northern Ireland. As part of this activity, the placement fellow will organise a workshop inviting policymakers and representatives from local community and voluntary sector organisations, to facilitate the exchange of ideas with respect to legislative measures that could be taken to implement children's rights in Northern Ireland, including the possible content of any Children's Rights Bill. The placement fellow will also work with NICCY to disseminate and publicise the policy briefing with policymakers, community and voluntary organisations and other key stakeholders. The project team will engage directly with key child rights NGOs including Children in Northern Ireland and the Children's Law Centre, and academics through an Advisory Group, which will meet regularly over the lifetime of the project.
The project will enable NICCY to draw upon independent academic expertise in an area of identified need, and give the project team the opportunity to positively impact upon the policy and practice in this domain. Ultimately, it is envisaged that the project will lead to more effective implementation of children's rights in Northern Ireland, to the overall benefit of children and young people therein.
Planned Impact
The project seeks to support the implementation of children's rights in Northern Ireland. It is anticipated that the primary output developed through this project to help overcome the barriers to implementation identified by Byrne and Lundy (2011) will have a direct impact on the following groups:
Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People
The project and project outputs will assist NICCY in promoting and protecting children's rights across Northern Ireland by providing potential legislative solutions to identified problems. The project will enable NICCY to benefit from independent academic expertise in an area of identified need. Specifically, the policy briefing will enable NICCY to initiate and contribute to debate on the need for and development of additional mechanisms for implementing children's rights in Northern Ireland such as a Children and Young People's Bill. Ultimately the project will assist NICCY in fulfilling their primary aim under the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Northern Ireland) Order 2003; that is, to safeguard and promote the rights and best interests of all children and young people in Northern Ireland.
Policymakers and Government bodies
The project will support policymakers, the Northern Ireland devolved administration, particularly the Children's Champions in each Department and OFMDFM officials, and ultimately, the UK Government, in realising their obligations under international human rights law and in facilitating more effective government delivery for children. The policy briefing will support policymakers in identifying and progressing additional ways in which children's rights can be effectively implemented and allow for a suitably informed debate on the subject to take place. This will be of particular importance given the range of structural barriers that currently exist and which impede effective implementation of children's rights by Government in Northern Ireland. It will also enable policymakers to avail of and learn from current thinking and practice in other jurisdictions, including recent developments in Scotland and Wales.
Non-governmental organisations
Non-governmental organisations working with and for children and young people will benefit from the development of the policy briefing that will support such organisations in their lobbying and campaigning activities around additional mechanisms for implementing children's rights. NGOs will also benefit from the stakeholder workshop on examples of best practice from other jurisdictions on implementing children's rights, facilitating knowledge exchange and the development and exchange of ideas.
Children and Young People
The project will ultimately benefit children and young people across Northern Ireland by contributing to more effective implementation of their rights.
The key output from the project will be the development of a policy briefing on legislative mechanisms for implementing children's rights in Northern Ireland.
The project team will work with NICCY to disseminate the policy briefing to key stakeholders, including policymakers, politicians, and community and voluntary sector organisations
Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People
The project and project outputs will assist NICCY in promoting and protecting children's rights across Northern Ireland by providing potential legislative solutions to identified problems. The project will enable NICCY to benefit from independent academic expertise in an area of identified need. Specifically, the policy briefing will enable NICCY to initiate and contribute to debate on the need for and development of additional mechanisms for implementing children's rights in Northern Ireland such as a Children and Young People's Bill. Ultimately the project will assist NICCY in fulfilling their primary aim under the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Northern Ireland) Order 2003; that is, to safeguard and promote the rights and best interests of all children and young people in Northern Ireland.
Policymakers and Government bodies
The project will support policymakers, the Northern Ireland devolved administration, particularly the Children's Champions in each Department and OFMDFM officials, and ultimately, the UK Government, in realising their obligations under international human rights law and in facilitating more effective government delivery for children. The policy briefing will support policymakers in identifying and progressing additional ways in which children's rights can be effectively implemented and allow for a suitably informed debate on the subject to take place. This will be of particular importance given the range of structural barriers that currently exist and which impede effective implementation of children's rights by Government in Northern Ireland. It will also enable policymakers to avail of and learn from current thinking and practice in other jurisdictions, including recent developments in Scotland and Wales.
Non-governmental organisations
Non-governmental organisations working with and for children and young people will benefit from the development of the policy briefing that will support such organisations in their lobbying and campaigning activities around additional mechanisms for implementing children's rights. NGOs will also benefit from the stakeholder workshop on examples of best practice from other jurisdictions on implementing children's rights, facilitating knowledge exchange and the development and exchange of ideas.
Children and Young People
The project will ultimately benefit children and young people across Northern Ireland by contributing to more effective implementation of their rights.
The key output from the project will be the development of a policy briefing on legislative mechanisms for implementing children's rights in Northern Ireland.
The project team will work with NICCY to disseminate the policy briefing to key stakeholders, including policymakers, politicians, and community and voluntary sector organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Bronagh Byrne (Principal Investigator) | |
| L Lundy (Co-Investigator) |
| Description | The primary outputs have been the development of a number of working papers and a policy briefing. The project highlights that whilst developments in Scotland and Wales undoubtedly represent progress, a number of limitations can be identified which should be taken into consideration in NI. For example, the Welsh duty to have due regard to the CRC and its Optional Protocols when making decisions about policy and legislation applies only to Ministers and was not extended to public bodies more generally. More generally, the duty requires Ministers only to have 'due regard' - a concept which is problematic due to the lack of precise meaning or scope of due regard. Similar limitations have been identified with the Scottish duty. The project suggests that in NI the CRC should be given full and direct effect. The particular circumstances of NI and the commitment to a Bill of Rights process must be borne in mind and is a key avenue through which the CRC could be fully incorporated. Until this occurs, the development of children's rights legislation, which encompasses both direct incorporation of the CRC and supportive measures of implementation should be a key objective, and complementary to that which emerges from the Bill of Rights process. However, as experience in other countries shows, they might also be implemented on an ad hoc basis when opportunities present themselves.The Committee on the Rights of the Child has called upon countries to adopt a range of 'general measures' to support implementation. The project identified the following measures as key to implementation of the CRC in NI and which could be placed on a statutory footing: • Child rights impact assessment • Training and awareness • Data collection • A statutory duty to co-operate • Child budgeting • Participation • A national strategy for children and young people Taken together with full incorporation, these form a comprehensive package which can be used to inform the development of bespoke legislation. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings will continue to underpin NICCY's work in this area in lobbying government around implementation of the UNCRC as well as children's sector organisations by providing an evidence base upon which they can draw. They can also be used by academics in exploring the options for implementing the UNCRC in domestic legislation and in identifying best practice and challenges. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.niccy.org/childrensrights/childrens-rights-in-ni-past-present-and-future |
| Description | The project has supported NICCY in promoting and protecting children's rights across NI by providing potential legislative solutions to identified problems. The project has enabled NICCY to benefit from independent academic expertise in an area of identified need. The policy briefing has enabled NICCY to initiate and contribute to debate on the need for and development of additional mechanisms for implementing children's rights in NI. Ultimately the project assisted NICCY in fulfilling their primary aim under the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Northern Ireland) Order 2003; that is, to safeguard and promote the rights and best interests of all children and young people in NI. The project has supported policymakers in NI in realising their obligations under international human rights law and in facilitating more effective government delivery for children by supporting policymakers in identifying and progressing additional ways in which children's rights can be effectively implemented allowing for a suitably informed debate on the subject to take place. It has also enabled policymakers to avail of and learn from current thinking and practice in other jurisdictions, including recent developments in Scotland and Wales. Policymakers have met with their counterparts in Scotland and Wales to discuss this further. NGOs working with and for children and young people are also benefitting from the development of the policy briefing which is supporting them in their lobbying and campaigning activities around children's rights and in identifying examples of best practice from other jurisdictions. Significantly the research has contributed to the development of a Private Members Bill on a statutory duty to co-operate in relation to children's services, in the NI Assembly; a specific barrier and recommendation made in both a 2011 project by the PI and the recent ESRC project and which specifically references children's rights. Both the 2011 work and the recently completed ESRC project are cited in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill. (see http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/legislation/current-non-executive-bill-proposals/childrens-services-co-operation-bill-as-introduced/ The OFMDFM Committee's report on the Bill was published on 1 July 2015 and references the PI's report (p.4 and 84) see http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/reports/ofmdfm/session-2014-2015/childrens-services-co-operation-bill.pdf The Children's Services Co-Operation Bill was adopted by the NI Assembly on 3 November 2015 (see http://aims.niassembly.gov.uk/officialreport/report.aspx?&eveDate=2015/11/03&docID=247257#1653128). There are a number of references to our work in the final debate/report. "Time and time again, reports were produced that said that a statutory duty to cooperate was required. That was included in reports by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child; Queen's University; the Children's Commissioner, in a report commissioned by the commissioner on barriers to effective working for children and young people; the Criminal Justice Inspection, in its 2012 report on early youth interventions; and the OFMDFM Committee, in its report during the 2007-2011 mandate. A number of solutions were tried to improve delivery. They included the introduction of children's champions within each of the Departments and the ministerial subgroup for children and young people. More recently, it has included Delivering Social Change. Each was assessed as falling short of the fundamental culture shift that was needed" "In January, over 40 organisations involved with children attended the launch in support of the Bill. They included Children in Northern Ireland, the umbrella group for many NGOs in the children's sector, and many of its members were in attendance; the Children's Law Centre, which today provided an example of how it sees that the Bill could impact on and improve children's lives; and the Children's Commissioner. It was the commission's research, along with other research, that helped to inform the Bill and produce the evidence that a statutory duty to cooperate was needed" "There have been problems related to the coordination of the planning, commissioning and delivering of children's services. The Bill will make a significant contribution towards addressing those, and to the development and implementation of strong policy and legislation for children and young people. The centre for children's rights at Queen's University and the Children's Commissioner conducted work to investigate barriers to effective government delivery for children. They identified the need for stronger working together and joined-up government in relation to those issues." See also: http://www.niccy.org/News/latest/we-can-make-northern-ireland-the-best-place-for-children-and-young-people-to-live http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/law-urged-to-back-childrens-rights-29768251.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25010631 |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Reporting on Best Practice in Cross Departmental Working |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2015 |
| End | 06/2015 |