What is a right?
A right is a promise made to people by governments. Rights are supposed to make sure that everybody is treated equally and fairly. Rights are about having the opportunity to be involved, to participate and be included in things that affect us. It is important that your rights are respected but it is also important that you respect other people’s rights.
What is the United Nations?
The United Nations (UN) is a group of 191 countries. They work together on a number of issues which affect everyone. To help with this they created a list of rights everyone should have. There is one set of rights that are for children and young people. This is called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (sometimes called the UNCRC)
What is the UNCRC?
The UNCRC is a list of 42 promises made by governments from almost all countries (except USA and Somalia ) in the UN to children and young people, including the right to education, equal treatment and the right to an opinion. All governments who have signed the UNCRC are supposed to work to make it part of their law. You can read the full text here.
What can NICCY do?
It is part of NICCY’s job to make sure that any work we do matches these rights. This means trying to bring the UNCRC and all its promises into our law, making sure that children and young people know and understand the rights in the Convention. We can do this by supporting children and young people to get involved through new and fun ways to learn about their rights, and talking to us if they think their rights are being broken.
Where can I find out more?
If you are interested in finding out more about the UNCRC, and what NICCY does, you can contact us here.