NICCY: Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People

UN Reporting Resources

Mid Term Resource Pack

This resource pack will provide information and step by step guidance to enable teachers / youth leaders / community workers to facilitate workshops on key issues on children’s rights including:-

Each workshop is linked to the primary, secondary and youth work curriculums, and can be used as action learning projects for GCSE. To read the curriculum guidance click here.

The resource pack can be used as an ongoing programme of workshops or individually depending on areas of interest. Facilitator’s notes are available through supporting information (below and within step by step guidance). It is aimed that by using the resources both young people and facilitators will have a greater awareness of the children’s rights and some of the key issues affecting children and young people.

Each resource is accompanied by an animation which you can use to accompany each workshop. For a list of the animations and how to use them click here.

The United Kingdom has signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This is a document which outlines the 42 promises that Government's have made to children and young people in their country. You can find out more about the UNCRC by clicking here.
Different Government departments and agencies take different views on what the UNCRC means and its impact on their work with children.
Every five years a report is delivered by the UK government to the United Nations on the state of children’s rights in the UK. The last report was sent in 2008 and can be viewed here.
NICCY has a duty and power as set out in our legislation to report on children's rights.As part of NICCY's job, we along with the other Childrens Commissioners in England, Scotland and Wales deliver reports and mid term reports on the state of childrens rights.
The UK Commissioners last reported to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2008, on the state of Childrens Rights in the UK. You can find the full report by following this link and can also view our press release from the day by clicking here. You can view a video of the Commissioner explaining the report here.
After the UN has heard from the government and other organisations invovled in childrens rights, it issues Concluding Observations to each country. These are a list of things the Government must do to improve childrens rights in their country. The UN Committee delivered its latest verdict on the Government’s progress on children’s rights on October 2008, you can view these Concluding Observations here and also view our press release here.

What has happened Since?

As part of our ongoing work, NICCY has been meeting with Government Minister's to see how the NI Assembly are delivering on the Concluding Observations. The UK Goverment are due to report again in 2014 and as part of this process NICCY, along with the other UK Children's Commissioner have produced a Mid Term Report on the state of childrens rights. You can download this report and supporting materials by clicking on the links below:

PDF version of the Mid Term Report
MS Word version of the Mid Term Report
Press release.
As part of the Mid Term Report NICCY and the UK Children's Commissioners have produced a range of resources to support children and young people to participate in the mid term reporting process which are linked to the Northern Ireland Curriculum. You can download these by clicking here.