Help make children’s rights real in Aotearoa
Kia ora and welcome to the Children’s Rights Alliance - the collective voice for children’s rights in Aotearoa
Together, we work towards an Aotearoa where all our children and tamariki are cared for, respected and protected, have what they need, and participate in their own lives, families, whānau, communities and wider society.
Notice of Annual General Meeting
Online via Zoom
Wednesday 27 September 2023, 12.30 - 1.20pm
Email: info@childrensrightsalliance.org.nz to RSVP and we will send you the link to join.
AGM Guest Speaker: Susan St John QSO, CNZM
Susan St John is an Honorary Associate Professor working in the Pensions and Intergenerational Equity Hub of the Economics Policy Centre Auckland University and founding member of CPAG.
If you wish to be a member with voting rights at the AGM please JOIN via the link at the bottom of this page.
Thirty years of children’s rights in Aotearoa - using the past to shape the future
This year, 2023, marks thirty years since New Zealand ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and it promises to be an exciting and significant year for children’s rights in Aotearoa.
Thirty years on from ratification, we are at a turning point for children – now is a critical time to make children’s rights real in practice – for all children, in all circumstances, all rights.
It is, therefore, very timely that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is about to review New Zealand’s progress on children’s rights.
As we head into the UN Review, let’s use the 30th anniversary of New Zealand ratifying the Convention, to ask:
“In another 30 years-time, in 2053, when we look back, what progress will we see for children stemming from this point in time and this UN review? What do we need to do to uphold the rights of our children now, and to be good ancestors for future generations of children in our country?”
Follow the UN’s review of children’s rights in New Zealand
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child will review New Zealand’s progress on children’s rights on 26 January and 27 January 2023 (Geneva time).
The Government will meet with the Committee to answer questions and discuss the children’s rights situation in Aotearoa. There will be two meetings - the first will take place from 3am to 6am, 27 January, and the second from 10pm – 1am on 27/28 January, (New Zealand time).
You can watch the Government’s meetings with the UN Committee live here: https://media.un.org/en/webtv/ , and recordings of the meetings will be available here: http://webtv.un.org/ , (in case you would prefer to sleep on the night of the 27th!!)
It is exciting to be at this point in this, the 6th, children’s rights reporting cycle. Many thanks to all those who have contributed to our reporting over the last 3 years - the information and insights you have shared have enabled us to paint a clear picture of the current children’s rights situation in Aotearoa and, importantly, to signpost a way forward to an Aotearoa where all children experience all their rights, in all circumstances.
Read our 2022 Children’s Rights Alliance Report.
Next Steps: On or about 9 February, the UN Committee will issue a set of comments and recommendations designed to improve children’s rights situation in Aotearoa (Concluding Observations), highlighting up to 6 issues for urgent attention.
So, as one reporting cycle draws to a close, another is just beginning! Our job as civil society is to follow up on the Committee’s recommendations, using them to inform and strengthen our advocacy for children over the next reporting cycle.
We look forward to continuing to build our Alliance and working together over the next reporting cycle, to make rights real for all children in Aotearoa – all rights, all children, all circumstances.
Find out more about the UN reporting process, and read the thematic reports provided to the UN Committee, here.
“It is important to emphasise here, that when New Zealand ratified the CRC in 1993, that amounted to a promise that every single child in New Zealand was entitled to the protection of every single right provided in every single one of the 54 articles, without qualification or compromise.”
— Judge A J Fitzgerald in New Zealand Police/Oranga Tamariki v LV [2020] NZYC 117 at [72]
Nau mai, haere mai - will you join us?
Everyone is welcome to join the Children’s Rights Alliance; any child, young person, adult, family, whānau or non-government organisation who supports children’s rights, Te Tiriti O Waitangi, and the Children’s Rights Alliance’s aims and values.
Amplify your own effectiveness by joining us – together we can make a difference for children and tamariki in Aotearoa.