Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on children and young people across Europe. Pandemic restrictions have led to school closures, the curtailment of services and parental unemployment. Consequently, many children have experienced increased exposure to abuse, neglect, poverty, hunger, social exclusion, and mental health difficulties. Certain groups of children and young people such as children in care, children with disabilities and refugee/migrant/ethnic minority children, including Travellers and Roma, have been disproportionately affected.
The project Building Children’s Futures led by Children’s Rights Alliance (CRA) examines the effect of pandemic measures on activities and services for children and young people in Ireland through consultations with groups that were disproportionately impacted.
By working with youth researchers, Ireland is used as a case study to document how child participation structures worked during the pandemic. The project explores how Child Rights Impact Assessments (CRIAs) can integrate a children’s rights approach during times of emergency.
CRIA is a tool that can be used to examine the potential impacts of proposed legislation, policies, budget decisions, programmes, and services on the rights of children or young people. It is seen as a critical tool for the promotion, protection, and monitoring of children’s rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Overall, the process aims to answer these central questions: what are the potential impacts of a proposed law/policy? Are there changes that could be made such that the proposed policy/legislation would better protect and promote the rights of children? To answer these questions, the project develops a prototype CRIA, and a training package aimed at embedding a child-centred approach in the decision-making process.
Go back to the news article and discover other projects' stories.