Article 12 was a

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

-led

children's rights Children's rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

organisation based in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Its main aim was to ensure the implementation of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Co ...

(UNCRC), specifically Article 12. The group, run by a

steering committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

, worked to ensure the rights of young people were heard by decision makers. It was founded after a young people's rights conference in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and was run by and for young people aged 18 and under. The administrative duties of Article 12 were run by

Children's Rights Alliance for England Children's Rights Alliance For England (CRAE) is a London-based advocacy group that aims to protect children's rights in the UK. Since 2015, it has operated as part of the children's charity Just for Kids Law. CRAE was founded in 1991 to monito ...

(CRAE). One of the group's most high-profile campaigns was "Stop Smacking Us", which challenging the physical punishment of children. The campaign led to a rally in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

to 10 Downing Street with hundreds of children. Its members have represented the United Kingdom at several United Nations sessions. In 1999, Daisy Langmaid and David Joseph Henry took part in 10th commemorative meeting of the UNCRC in Geneva. In 2001, James Anderson and Lucy Mason took part in the Special Session on Children in New York. Many of its key members have gone on to become

human rights activists A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing camp ...

. In 2000, Article 12 produced a report titled called Respect investigating "how well Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is put into Practice across the UK". The report was put together by the members of CR2000 (Children's Rights 2000). The organisation conducted interviews and research with children in schools and youth groups, to gather their opinions and views on how well their rights were upheld and how much their opinions were heard. The organisation is no longer active but its work continues through CRAE and work of former members who continue to work in the

youth rights movement The youth rights movement (also known as youth liberation) seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults, due to having reached a specific age or sufficient maturity. This is closely akin to the notion ...

References

External links

BBC News , UK , Children in anti-smacking protest

Children's Rights Alliance for England
{dead link, date=October 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
United Nations: Summary record of the 574th Meeting
Youth organisations based in the United Kingdom Youth-led organizations Youth rights organizations Human rights organisations based in the United Kingdom United Nations Youth Associations Network