Cambodia Children's Report: My life..., My suggestions...

The report "My Life My Suggestion" is released by Cambodian Children and Young People’s Movement for Child Rights (CCYMCR), a network of children and youth from 20 organisations operating in 16 provinces in Cambodia. The report highlights the dire situation that Cambodia’s children face in their daily lives and provides a number of important recommendations to engage the Royal Government of Cambodia in solving the problems that affect the living situation and development of children. Statistics reveal that twenty-six percent of the children surveyed said they have never received care and warmth from their parents and a quarter said they were forced to do various dangerous or unsuitable jobs, including pulling carts, performing wage labour, begging, working in rubber plantations, working at construction sites and factories, scavenging for scraps, logging and finding firewood. Also documented is the limited extent of the country’s child healthcare services, as twenty-three percent of the survey participants stated that hospitals were far from their homes, and that health centres were small, understaffed and under-equipped. Moreover, twenty-seven percent of the children said they faced regular discrimination on the basis of poverty and race, and for having disabilities or suffering from HIV/AIDS. This children’s report was sent to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2010.

Children as change agents: Guidelines for child participation in periodic reporting on the CRC

Children as change agents: Guidelines for child participation in periodic reporting on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, by Jennifer Miller, Mississauga: World Vision, 2007.

World Vision has just published this very useful document to guide the involvement of children in reporting to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

These guidelines respond to the gap in information concerning children’s involvement in the reporting process, and aim to promote and strengthen children’s meaningful participation within this area. The report includes an analysis of a number of alternate country reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and appendixes with specific forms and suggestions. The guidelines also include a glossary, a bibliography and suggestions for additional reading.

The guidelines address:

Creating Meaningful Child Participation

* Principles of Child Participation

* Building Ownership

* Addressing Power Imbalances

* Consulting with Children

* Accessible Information

* Building Support

Practical and Ethical Considerations

* Child Protection Policies

* Unintended Consequences

* Informed Consent

* Confidentiality

* The Roles and Responsibilities for Children, Young Adults, and Adults

* Resources: Funding and Time

Stages of the Reporting Process

* Selection and Representation

* Training and Building Capacity

* Methods for Collecting Information from Children

* Analyzing the Data and Reaching Conclusions

* Preparing the Report

* Child Delegates and Pre-sessional/Sessional Meetings

* Follow-up and Evaluations

The Media and Children's Rights

A very useful and reader friendly handbook on children and the media:

The Media and Children's rights

This is a new (2005) edition of a handbook designed to help journalists monitor their government’s performance as signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Media and Children’s Rights has been produced by the Bristol-based media ethics charity MediaWise on behalf of UNICEF. The revised and expanded, pocket-sized edition, based on the practical experience of working journalists, includes story ideas drawn from issues raised by the UNCRC and checklists to ensure that media professionals acknowledge children rights in their working practices.

It is a useful addition to “Putting children in the right” (Guidelines for Journalists and media professionals) by the International Federation of Journalists.