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Child Rights Public Awareness Campaign
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms children’s entitlement to development, protection, participation and non-discrimination. It also acknowledges that the realization of these rights for children can only be accomplished through the care and assistance of adults with the active and meaningful participation of children and youth themselves. Two recent reports by Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, the 2005 interim report, Who’s in Charge Here? Effective Implementation of Canada’s International Obligations with Respect to the Rights of Children, and the 2007 final report, Children: The Silenced Citizens-Effective Implementation of Canada’s International Obligations with Respect to the Rights of Children, conclude that there is a pervasive lack of awareness of the Convention within Canadian society and that there is a need for public awareness initiatives across the country.
The Society for Children and Youth of BC (SCY), BC Representative for Children and Youth, and the Institute for Safe Schools and Communities of BC are similarly mandated to promote the safety, well-being, and maximum development of children and youth throughout British Columbia. The work of these organizations is based upon the principles imbedded in the Convention. Because knowledge of the Convention, and children’s rights generally, is lacking at all levels of our society– government, community, families and children and youth themselves, these three agencies formed a partnership in April 2006 to develop and implement a provincial child rights public education campaign.
The goal of this multi-phased campaign is to increase the awareness of children’s rights generally, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child specifically, in British Columbia. Project objectives include promoting the Convention as a unifying framework for government and community programs and services to children, youth and families and strengthening relationships between representatives of community and all levels of government through our joint efforts to develop and implement strategies to increase the public awareness of child rights.
The project was initiated based on the belief that public awareness is the foundation on which understanding and empowerment are built. Greater public awareness can lead to:
• Increased political will, implementation monitoring, research, education, inclusion and participation of children,
and society at large, in rights initiatives
• Increased advocacy by children and adult supporters
• Positive proactive responses to advocacy by family, community, funders, politicians,
• Increased funding and services, and
• The realization of children’s rights and improved well-being.
The project is provincial in scope and specifically targets the adult population in BC as the Convention identifies adults (“adult duty bearers”) as being responsible for ensuring that child rights are upheld. The various strategies incorporated in the project have been broken into phases including:
• base-line survey
• focus groups
• multi-media campaign
• regional community forums
• provincial conference
• project completion survey
As the realization of children’s rights in British Columbia is a shared responsibility of the whole community, a committee representing provincial and federal governments, funding agencies, community service organizations, youth organizations, and provincial advocacy bodies has been established to advise the project partners throughout the development and implementation of this campaign.
For more information please contact:
Tina Tam
Executive Director
Society for Children and Youth of BC
Vancouver, 604.433.4180
www.scyofbc.org
Wilma Clarke
Director of Advocacy
Representative for Children and Youth
Vancouver, 604.775-3210
www.rcybc.ca
Annette Vogt
BC Centre for Safe Schools and Communities
Abbotsford, 604.870.5936
www.iss-bc.ca
To download this project outline please click here.
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