|
SCY is currently working with a coalition of citizens, including youth and service providers, to implement rights based monitoring practices at the community level in Vancouver neighborhoods. The monitoring activities have involved young people, their families and others in gaining knowledge of children's rights, identifying where rights are being met, and where improvements need to be made.
Monitoring activities are based on the Children's Rights Monitoring Toolkit produced by the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children. Funding in part is being provided by the Vancouver Foundation.
CURRENT INITIATIVES:
SCY is working with a broad based volunteer working group to examine the situation of young people with disabilities - many of them hidden - who are either at risk of entering or are in the criminal justice system and will develop recommendations and strategies to support their rights while complying with extra judicial measures contained in the new Youth Criminal Justice Act (2003). The project will involve a series of round table sessions in BC involving youth, youth workers and justice system personnel.
SCY is grateful to the efforts of our volunteer working group (see list attached) and to the Vancouver Foundation, Justice Canada, and the Child and Youth Officer for BC for providing partial funding towards this project.
Supporting Parents of Young Children (0-6) with Disabilities
Parents of young children with disabilities are faced with a myriad of information, decisions and choices. This project, funded in part by the United Way of the Lower Mainland, will provide resources & workshops for parents of young children with disabilities on the rights of children with disabilities, how to navigate/access services plus how to support the development of services where they do not exist. Particular emphasis is being placed on newly arrived immigrant parents. SCY is grateful to the Disability Resource Centre, the Chinese Parents Support Group for their involvement in the project, and to other volunteers who have supported the initiative: Bernadette McGrath and Yuan Lai.
PROJECTS UNDER COMPLETION:
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Public Policy
Since 2003 SCY has worked with the Canadian Coalition on the Rights of the Child (www.rightsofchildren.ca), the National Children's Alliance (www.nationalchildrensalliance.com) and the University of Victoria's Institute for Child Rights and Development (www.uvic.ca/icrd) in a project that aims to support the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Public Policy. This initiative was supported in part by the department of Canadian Heritage and the Law Foundation of BC.
The project's two components and current status of each include:
-
Promotion of importance of compliance with the Convention among key sectors of the child-serving system through forums in BC and Ottawa, and development of materials. Current status: A national forum took place in January 2004 in Ottawa whereby government policy makers, non-governmental organizations and youth representatives will examine policy through a 'Convention lens'. Click here...
-
A similar forum, with a focus on children with disabilities, was held in Victoria in May. The forum in Victoria placed particular emphasis on children with disabilities and thier rights. Click here...
-
A panel speaker and parent of a child with a disability, Cheryl Thorpe, shared her thoughts on these important issues (click here for the full text of her speech). Click here...
Both components have involved broad collaboration with child-serving agencies, and youth themselves, in particular organizations working with children with disabilities and their families. SCY is grateful to the many individuals and organizations who contributed their time to support this initiative (list).
-
Application of the Convention 'lens' to selected law and policy affecting children with disabilities in British Columbia. Current status: A unique and comprehensive report entitled Perspectives on the Rights of Children with Disabilities in British Columbia examines how well policy entrenches the rights of children with disabilities and will be published in the spring of 2004. A companion booklet, designed for parents and youth, entitled Beyond Article 23: Rights of Children with Disabilities describes the various articles within the UN Convention relating to children with disabilities. See publications section for ordering information and further details.
Publications Developed Concerning RAP
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Guide to Resources for Canadians (2003)
SCY participated in this national project that identifies approximately 100 education materials and monitoring tools related to the Convention in a user-friendly, annotated guide. For updates on this project and expected publication date, see www.rightsofchildren.ca
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Tools to Facilitate Legal and Policy Compliance (2001)
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international legal document or treaty that sets out universally accepted rights for children. It provides the whole range of human rights including social, economic and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights.
Each country that ratifies the Convention, as Canada did in 1991, is bound to comply with its provisions. Canadian governments have an obligation to children to ensure that the provisions of the Convention are effectively implemented. Non-governmental organizations serving children also have a responsibility to implement the Convention in their work and to advocate for its implementation by others.
The following tools have been developed by the Society for Children and Youth of BC to facilitate legal and policy compliance with the Convention.
A Model for Assessing Legislative Compliance
Step-by-step guide to applying a four-star rating system:
Step 1: Identifying the Legislation
Step 2: Interpreting the Legislation
Step 3: Identifying Relevant Convention Articles
Step 4: Interpreting Convention Articles
Step 5: Analyzing the Legislation
Step 6: Assigning Compliance Ratings
The four-star scale represents different levels of compliance - poor, fair, good and excellent. There is a separate category for non-compliance. These criteria allow for rating legislative compliance with the Convention as a whole or with any particular article of the Convention (various "starting points" are described in the introduction to this compliance tool).
A Model for Assessing Policy Compliance
Policy is a vital piece of a monitoring framework. It can influence how law is interpreted and applied, and guide actions toward children in day-to-day practice.
Step-by-step guide to applying a four-star rating system:
Step 1: Identifying the Policy
Step 2: Clarifying the Requirements of the Policy
Step 3: Identifying Governing Legislation
Step 4: Identifying Relevant Convention Articles
Step 5: Interpreting Convention Articles
Step 6: Analyzing the Policy
Step 7: Assigning Compliance Ratings
Guidelines for Policy Development
These guidelines were prepared to provide some guidance on incorporating articles of the Convention when new policy is being developed.
Again, certain steps are suggested in the development process:
Step 1: Considering General Application Issues
Step 2: Involving Key Organizations/Individuals
Step 3: Developing Guiding Principles or Goals
Step 4: Incorporating the "General Principles" Articles of the Convention
Step 5: Incorporating Other Relevant Convention Articles
Step 6: Planning for Implementation and Evaluation
For each step there is some background information and a checklist of questions to be answered.
Supplement Reference Tool
This reference material has been prepared to assist in the analysis or development of policy.
The Supplement provides the text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and includes some background on its interpretation, an index of Convention articles by subject matter and information on closely related articles.
It also provides the text of Optional Protocols and Canada's status regarding ratification of these protocols, and identifies key international human rights instruments that have a bearing on children's rights. |
