Supporting Young People to Know Their Human Rights

In 2016, the Equality and Human Rights Commission asked BIHR and our peer facilitators to run human rights workshops for young people. We hosted three events in London and Manchester but attendees came from across the country.  
 
The events provided a way to foster much-needed conversation concerning young people and their rights by providing a crash course on how the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) aims to protect young people’s rights. The day was also a great opportunity to inform young people on how they could get their voices heard on the issues that matter to them and provide a space for them to share their experiences.  

We started each event with an icebreaker and an introduction to the Articles in the CRC followed by discussions, talks, activities (including a bunting-making session) and a live artist to capture it all in real time. Our mock United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child was a clear favourite and we also heard some fantastic presentations from participants about the issues affecting young people in the UK today. We heard about racism, budget cuts, education, stop and search, tuition fees, and the voting age to name a few! There was even an impromptu rap! 

The knowledge and energy that the young people took from the day was particularly evident in the presentations given. Many of them, initially shaky and shy, really came into their own. For example, one young person used her experience of growing up on Traveller sites to inform her understanding of human rights. Constantly having to move because of the changing law and improper implementation, she described how many in her situation had little education or faced bullying and discrimination in schools. Another young person spoke about the lack of opportunities to participate in human rights mechanisms. How, despite events such as this, young people aren’t given a voice in human rights discussions. All of the groups spoke about a desire to improve opportunities to engage and set a goal of actual change and, in the midst of such a fun programme, an important plea was made: the young people need more. Although some were armed with information that was impressive to hear, sadly many of them weren’t. Many were not clued up on what rights were afforded to them at all, and this event provided basic learning, not improvement of knowledge they already possessed. Many had issues they wanted to voice, almost all of which would be helped by encouraging and facilitating their engagement with human rights discussions.

In May 2018, our now-CEO Sanchita Hosali spoke at the annual conference of the National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists, focusing on how human rights can underpin values in leadership. NAPEP promotes positive, inclusive outcomes for children and young people in educational and community settings, through the application of psychology to management of specialist services. 
 
Sanchita looked at how educational psychologists can encounter human rights issues on a daily basis in their work. For example, to what extent are children’s rights to autonomy or participation in the community fulfilled through educational provisional and support? 
 
These rights are protected by the Human Rights Act, which contains practical legal duties that can be used in everyday work to secure the best outcomes for children. As human rights apply across the board to a range of public services, it provides a unified language educational psychologists can draw on when working with, and sometimes challenging, other officials. 
 
Human rights, whilst based on shared values, provide a specific framework that can be used in practice. Principal Educational Psychologists have a vital role in showing leadership to support staff to use human rights in everyday work, transforming policy and practice.