Two Scottish children have travelled to Geneva to help the United Nations plan September’s Day of General Discussion on children’s human rights.
Hannah and Cameron – both 11-year-olds from East Lothian – are the only children from the UK in Child Rights Connect’s Children’s Advisory Team.
They’re joining children from across the world to help plan the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Day of General Discussion on the theme of children as human rights defenders.
Hannah is clear that children themselves must play a key role in the UN’s work on child rights:
“It’s the Children’s Day of General Discussion, so children should be involved. It would be weird if they were improving children’s rights without children being involved!”
Adults supporting Hannah and Cameron
Hannah and Cameron are being supported by a partnership between:
- The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland,
- East Lothian Council , and
- Children’s Parliament ,
while Together and Child Rights Connect are also supporting them in Geneva.
What will Hannah and Cameron do next?
When they get back to Scotland, Hannah and Cameron will team up with other children from East Lothian to co-design and deliver a series of workshops across Scotland.
Supported by our partnership, they’ll help children explore their views on what human rights need to be defended in Scotland and talk about what support they might need to become human rights defenders.
The children will also work with artists to create an installation featuring five giant shields, which will reflect the main messages children wish to share about children’s human rights.
And they’ll present Scotland’s national priorities on children as human rights defenders to the children and adults from around the world participating in September’s Day of General Discussion.
Finally, they’ll meet the Scottish Cabinet in 2019 to report on their experiences.
More on children as Human Rights Defenders
Children’s Parliament will be blogging about our partnership’s involvement in the UN Day of Discussion throughout 2018.