In 2020, ENYA was involved in work on the ENOC theme of Child Rights Impact Assessments, or CRIAs, with LGBTIQ+ rights as the topic.
We supported a group of young people in Scotland to take part, who worked on the topic from March through to November.
Adults in power often make decisions that affect people― such as laws and policies. When they do this, they don’t always think about the impact these decisions will have on children and young people.
A Children’s Rights Impact Assessment, or CRIA,is a way to include children and young people in a decision. It looks at the ways the decision might affect the rights of children and young people― both positively and negatively.
By doing this, it means people know what the effect of the decision on children and young people is likely to be.
More in the Rights questions and answers section
ENYA’s recommendations on Child Rights Impact Assessments
- States should make CRIAs mandatory and raise awareness of them.
- CRIAs must be based on a broad range of articles and up-to-date, relevant statistics, and child-friendly information must be provided.
- Children and young people must be involved in CRIAs and Children’s Rights Impact Evaluations (CRIEs).
- Young people must be educated about children’s rights, including CRIAs.
- Adults must be educated about the UNCRC and about CRIAs.
- Adults need to respect children’s opinions and be open-minded.
- Children’s Commissioners and Ombudspersons should play a role in CRIAs.
- There need to be consequences if a CRIA is missing, not used or incomplete.
ENYA’s recommendations on child participation in decision making
- States need to improve access to participation for all children and young people.
- Participation should be on children and young people’s terms.
- Provide information and education for young people.
- Adults should be educated and made aware of children’s rights to meaningful participation.
- Create digital platforms for participation.
- Have more youth-led participation.
- Voting rights for young people should be assessed in different countries.
The ENYA Forum
Each year, young people from across Europe meet at an event called the ENYA Forum. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year the Forum took place online over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of October.
Our group sent two delegates to the Forum― Jonathan and Hope. They took part in workshops and discussions with other young delegates from several different countries.
By the end of the Forum, the young delegates agreed a list of recommendations around Children’s Rights Impact Assessments, which fed into ENOC’s position statement on CRIAs.