Meet Hannah, Dylan, Emily, Anna and Alexander and Cameron- our six Members of Children’s Parliament and #HumanRightsDefenders who will be co-delivering workshops in schools across Scotland this April and May about children’s human rights.
Children all over the world are advocating for the realisation of their rights, their peers’ rights and the human rights of all, by acting as human rights defenders at local, regional and international levels. It is a timely opportunity to open the discussion on children as human rights defenders as 2018 is both the 20th Anniversary of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the 70th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Furthermore, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has chosen ‘Children as Human Rights Defenders’ as the theme for its Day of General Discussion (DGD) in September 2018.
As part of Child Rights Connect’s Children’s Advisory Team, Hannah and 
Cameron have introduced a further ten children in Scotland into the DGD as Human Rights Defenders. We are working with six of the twelve children to design and deliver a national programme for children across Scotland to explore children’s views on what rights they feel need to be defended in Scotland and what support adults can provide to ensure children can be both empowered and protected to be human rights defenders. This programme is a partnership between Children’s Parliament, the Commissioner for Children and Young People for Scotland (CYPCS), Together: Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights, Child Rights Connect and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, East Lothian Council and Recharge Youth Centre in Tranent.
At the end of the workshop programme, approximately 200 children will have shared their views and will have learned more about the UNCRC in the process. Following the completion of all five workshops, all 12 Child Human Rights Defenders will gather the material together and thereafter identify five key themes that emerged throughout the workshops. Using children’s words, drawings and poems they will help create five giant shields, which will reflect the children’s ideas and be displayed at the DGD in September.
On Saturday, we met the six MCPs to plan and design the workshops they will be delivering in five schools across Scotland in late April and May. A lot of hard work, problem solving (assembling our giant UNCRC jigsaw for the first time!) and a lot of fun was had. We also had a birthday celebration for Hannah who turned 12 last week!
Our first workshop will take place on the 25th April in East Lothian so make sure to keep an eye out for updates!
