Children's Rights Alliance For England (CRAE) is a
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
-based
advocacy group that aims to protect
children's rights
Children's rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors. in the UK. Since 2015, it has operated as part of the children's charity
Just for Kids Law.
CRAE was founded in 1991 to monitor the
UK government's commitment to upholding the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Co ...
. Their methods include lobbying government and others who hold power, supporting
test cases, and using regional and international
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
mechanisms. CRAE also publishes an annual review of the state of children's rights in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
They also provide free
legal information
Legal advice is the giving of a professional or formal opinion regarding the substance or procedure of the law in relation to a particular factual situation. The provision of legal advice will often involve analyzing a set of facts and advising a p ...
and advice to young people, raise awareness of children's human rights, and undertake research about children's access to their rights. As such, they are a member of the
National Council for Voluntary Youth Services
The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) was a membership network of over 200 voluntary and community organisations, as well as local and regional networks, that work with and for young people across England. The organisation cl ...
,
[Full list of NCVYS members](_blank)
an English organisation that supports and promotes the work of youth groups and charities.
Get Ready for Geneva and Get Ready for Change
From April 2007 CRAE wrote a report on and tried influence the UK's response to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Co ...
through their
youth-led campaign ar
Get Ready for Geneva
Following the publication of the concluding observations of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Committee on the Rights of the Child
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a body of experts that monitor and report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Committee also monitors the Convention's three optional protoc ...
in October 2008, the "Get Ready for Geneva" project became "Get Ready for Change". The group now lobbies the UK government with the aim of securing resolutions to the issues that the committee raised.
See it, Say It, Change it
In February 2015, CRAE assembled a new steering group of 21 children and young people to create another report to the United Nations on the state of children's rights in England. This report was published in July 2015, and was launched in the Houses of Parliament, with MPs such as
Tulip Siddiq
Tulip Rizwana Siddiq ( bn, টিউলিপ রেজওয়ানা সিদ্দীক; born 16 September 1982) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hampstead and Kilburn since 2015. A member of the L ...
and
Alison Thewliss
Alison Emily Thewliss (born 13 September 1982) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Central since the May 2015 general election.
Before being elected to Westminster, Thewliss wa ...
in attendance.
The group attended the United Nations session in October 2015 to provide more evidence on topics mentioned in the report. The concluding observations contained material that CRAE had themselves suggested.
The campaign stage of the project is now underway, and the main focus of the campaign is lobbying the government to either stick to their 6-week legal limit on housing people in bed and breakfasts, or abolish this altogether.
See also
*
Children's rights
Children's rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.
References
External links
CRAE website
Youth empowerment organizations
Children's rights in England
1991 establishments in England
Organizations established in 1991
Lobbying organisations in the United Kingdom
Youth organisations based in London
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