Helping NHRIs to be more child-friendly

UNICEF, the UN agency committed to improving the lives of children, is encouraging national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to develop more child-friendly policies and ways of working.

It has developed a series of toolkits that identify practical ways that NHRIs can be more accessible to children and promote their genuine participation.

The UNICEF resources include:

• Presentation of the Toolkit and Child Rights Approach
• Promotion and Outreach with and for Children
• Children's Participation in the Work of NHRIs
• Child-Friendly Complaint Mechanisms

UNICEF is also hosting a series of interactive webinars on the role of independent institutions to advance the rights of children.

The first webinar focused on advancing accountability for children's rights (February 2019), while the second looked at effective outreach practices with children (March 2019).

UNICEF will also host webinars on 16 April (on strengthening child participation) and 15 May (on child-friendly complaint mechanisms), featuring leading experts on children's rights.

"Many APF members have done important work to promote and protect children's rights, including through ground-breaking national inquiries," Kieren Fitzpatrick, Director of the APF secretariat, said.

"They have also developed innovative ways to engage with children, to listen to their views and to advocate on the issues that are important to them," he said.

"But NHRIs can seem far removed from children's lives.

"These resources from UNICEF provide an excellent source of ideas and strategies that NHRIs can integrate into their working methods to be better advocates with and for children."

For further information about the resources or the webinar series, please contact Adam Jones at adjones@unicef.org.

Date: 15 March 2019