MS, Minister for Children and
Social Care: Wales has led the way on children's rights in
the UK. We were the first part of the UK to enshrine the UNCRC in
law through The Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales)
Measure 2011.
Section 5 of the Measure places a duty on Welsh Ministers to take
appropriate steps to promote public knowledge and understanding
of the UNCRC and its Optional Protocols. This duty gives effect
to article 42 of the UNCRC, that governments should make the
convention known to children and their parents. It also enables
children to realise their rights by ensuring the adults around
have the knowledge and understanding to support them.
We want a Wales for all Children. A Wales where every child knows
that they have rights, understands what they mean and has support
to be able to exercise them. Achieving this requires a culture
and commitment that respects children's rights, and over the
years we have delivered some groundbreaking work, which will have
a long-term impact on the awareness of children's rights
throughout Wales. This includes:
- The expansion of Young Wales, which ensures children and
young people have a voice in Welsh Government policy, legislation
and implementation.
- Endorsing and promoting ‘The Right Way', a principled
approach to embedding children's rights in policy and practice.
- Publishing the Early Childhood Play, Learning and
Care Plan, which includes developing specific resources to
support the youngest children to access their rights.
- Including children's human rights in Wales' new curriculum.
- Developing a suite of professional learning resources to
promote knowledge and understanding of the UNCRC and the UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
and support the new curriculum, which will have a long term,
sustainable impact on children's awareness of their rights.
- Enhancing parents' and carers' ability to support their
children's rights through Parenting. Give it time.
Extensive engagement and communications work has also been
undertaken through the Ending Physical Punishment campaign.
- Providing training and resources for practitioners so they
can teach children sensitively about the law in Wales that
prevents the physical punishment of children and uphold their
right to live free from violence.
- With the Children's Commissioner, providing us and our
partners with a consistent approach to embedding children's
rights in all of our work that affects children through ‘A Wales
for all Children'.
I'm pleased to publish today an infographic that sets
out some of the key activities we do to embed a culture of
raising awareness of children's rights to children and those who
work and care for them. We will build on this activity and
continue to deliver targeted and innovative approaches to raise
awareness of children's rights in Wales.
