A Rights Based Approach to Youth Information

Rights What are human rights? Why children’s rights? Show history part from Funky Dragon film after this

The UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Adopted by the UN in 1989 Adopted by all except 2 countries in UN Contains 54 Articles

“The UNCRC intends to ensure that children and young people grow up in a safe, healthy world where they can participate freely and realise their potential” UNICEF

Youth Information Directly linking Articles to Information and Advice How do we support children and young people to access entitlements?

Article 13 Children have the right to get and share information as long as the information is not damaging to them or to others

Article 12 Children have the right to say what they think should happen, when adults are making decisions that affect them, and to have their opinions taken into account. This is a gateway right, without which it would be more difficult to access their other rights Article 12 incorporates the principles and practice of participation

The UNCRC in Wales 2001 - Introduction of first Children’s Commissioner in UK 2002 – Extending Entitlement 2004 (Children Act) – Welsh Government adopted UNCRC as a basis for all policy for children Seven Core Aims – based on UNCRC 2011 - Children’s Rights Measure (Ministers must pay due regard to UNCRC in all decisions)

The UNCRC Rights into Action Looking at the practical implications for professionals working with children and yp

Implementing the right to Education Government – obligation to define policy, find and allocate resources, ensure progress against targets is achieved. Institutions – obligation to train staff, organise resources, create child friendly environment. Educators – obligation to teach well, encourage children to learn and access their rights. Education for all – equality of access No discrimination Schools and youth clubs should be a safe place free from discrimination Youth workers support yp to exercise rights Children must respect other children Parents responsibility to send children to school

Rights into law – sexual health Young people have the right to access a full range of contraceptive services. Fraser Guidelines apply in cases where the young people are under 16 Sexual and reproductive health services for young people must be: confidential accessible free from judgement offer a complete range of services We are faced with societies that prefer to deny that young people have sex at all, despite the evidence of very real results. Young pregnant women are expelled from school, others are killed by their male relatives. Young women are resorting to backstreet abortion, the level of sexually transmitted infections is increasing and the under 25s account for half of all new HIV infections. The law in this country has been developed with a lot of test cases involving yp under 16

Adopting a rights-based approach to youth work The UNCRC is relevant to our youth work practice Access to information and advice underpins all four pillars of the youth work curriculum statement for Wales

Adopting a rights-based approach to youth work (cont’d) Article 15 – the right to meet with other children and join and form associations Article 29 – the right to an education which prepares her/him for an active, responsible life as an adult in a free society which respects others and the environment Article 31 - the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and to participate in educational, cultural and artistic activities. Article 34 - the right to protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.

Rights-based activities for youth workers Make sure young people are aware of their rights and how to access them (Article 42) Young people have a say in all decisions affecting them (Article 12) – encourage young people to become part of a forum Agored Cymru Level 1 Children’s Rights & Citizenship

Moving forward What are the problems associated with effective access to information and advice? How do we put young people at the heart of defining what information and advice they require? What formats are relevant to young people today? So how do we move forward from raising awareness of young people’s right to participate in decision-making to them actually influencing decisions? We need to ask ourselves some key questions – These models are not always relevant to young people. Elected young members do not always represent the views of their community of interest. The answer to this could be more dynamic use of social networking – some youth forums use Facebook as a means of getting wider participation.

Moving forward Does anything change for young people? How do we know change is happening? How do we engage young people in driving that change? Is it any easier to access services, or to get the right support to access them? Does anything change? Young people often see little change. And they do need to see real changes instead of just hearing about them. They need to be involved in the whole process of decision-making. If we’re honest with ourselves, decision-making is still adult dominated. We are all ruled by what is sometimes called the tyranny of performance targets, statutory responsibilities such as safeguarding and a corporate agenda but for young people’s participation to be meaningful there has to be change. Change needs to happen through a culture of participation. We need to become a learning organisation and the importance of being critically reflective can’t be ignored.

Moving forward What are the impacts and outcomes for young people? You may not see the fruits of youth information work immediately. Importance of the integrity of this work and to ensure that both they and you are satisfied with the outcomes of the process to date. We are all in the business of improving life chances for young people but for many young people, fundamental problems don’t get properly addressed – problems such as unemployment, young people’s life chances, poverty, youth justice, mental health issues etc. However our experience shows that young people place a huge emphasis on the value of the process of participation – Personal achievement New connections Making a valued contribution Realisation of their own abilities

Moving forward What is understood by young people’s involvement in development of information and advice services? Often it is seen as a collection of views. We are constantly collecting views of young people and it could be argued that young people suffer from consultation fatigue, which is when their views are collected but they know that decisions have already been made or that their opinions won’t really make a difference if they are at odds with what adults think. But the most pressing problems for young people cannot be solved by simply voicing what we already know. We need to ADDRESS these issues, work out how to solve these problems. Young people need to have involvement at all stages of the decision-making cycle. Participation goes hand in hand with empowerment and we need to create networks of opportunities for young people to participate in different ways.

Messages from young people “Don’t just listen – do something!” We need to connect our policies and systems to young people’s realities. It’s hard to do, but it’s important to take a risk, put more trust in young people and the benefits will accrue for everybody – not just the young people but for ourselves!!

Here are some websites worth visiting Want to know more? Here are some websites worth visiting UNCRC Lets Get It Right www.uncrcletsgetitright.co.uk CLIC www.cliconline.co.uk Children’s Commissioner www.childcomwales.org.uk