Talking about equality and human rights

On 20th November 2007, the Children’s Rights Alliance for England held its national conference. Our theme this year was equality and human rights for children.

The conference was chaired by two young people from the Get ready for change! steering group. A group of young people who took part in our consultation on equality for children gave a brilliant presentation about discrimination against children and young people because of their age.

There was also a lot of discussion about the rights of children in trouble with the law, and whether the rights of young refugees and asylum seekers are respected by the Government.

Other speakers at the conference were:

• Bruce Clark from the Department for Children, Schools and Families
• John Wadham from the new Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Sarah Spencer, the Chair of the Equality and Diversity Forum
• Mary Riddell, a journalist and the Chair of CRAE’s Trustees
• Carolyne Willow, CRAE’s national co-ordinator.

At the conference, CRAE launched its State of children’s rights in England report, which showed that the Government has only made progress this year on 10 of the 78 areas the UN said needed improvement in children’s rights.

Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007