Charlotte is a 15-year-old suffragist from the United States and a member of the Children’s Voting Colloquium. In this conversation, we discuss how she began to advocate for children’s right to vote and what needs to be done to fully realise children’s civil and political rights.

CRIN's latest report challenges the myths used to deny children the right to vote. It sets out the legal principles that support children's voting rights and proposes practical ways to make it happen.

COP31 is where States must decide how the Just Transition Work Programme will work in practice, and how – and whether – it will be able to protect those most affected by the shift to a low-carbon economy. CRIN sets out what COP31 must deliver to make the just transition work for children, not just on paper but in practice.

One year after the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 327 children, while restrictions on aid and rebuilding materials stop families from recovering. CRIN joins 100+ organisations warning that the ceasefire exists in name only, and that killing and deprivation must not be normalised under its cover.

The British Army has quietly published the findings of its own inquiry into how its training establishments handle complaints of unacceptable behaviour. These findings cover the Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate, where around 1,500 children aged 16 and 17 are in training at any one time. According to its report, AFC’s safeguarding policy was 'very poorly’ implemented, its oversight was ‘ineffective’ and the recommendations of two decades’ worth of previous inquiries had not been embedded.

France’s highest constitutional authority struck down a proposed social media ban for under-15s because it violated the rights to free expression and privacy. This confirms what children’s rights experts have consistently argued: sweeping bans on social media are a false solution. Policymakers working to protect children online should be paying close attention to this decision, shifting their focus from restricting children’s access to the better regulation of platforms.

The outcome report of the first Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels (TAFF) Conference importantly recognised that human rights must underpin a just transition away from fossil fuels, a focus that was missing from the conference itself. Ahead of the second TAFF Conference, co-hosted by Tuvalu and Ireland, CRIN joins 30 human rights organisations, advocating for concrete measures to ensure human rights and children’s rights are not merely recognised, but implemented during the just transition.

In March, the European Union adopted its first-ever Intergenerational Fairness (IGF) Strategy, which aims to ensure ‘young people’ can better shape the policies that affect them. However, umbrella words like ‘intergenerational’ and ‘young people’ can inadvertently exclude children’s specific rights and needs. This adoption is also taking place during the EU's ongoing deregulation agenda, which undermines its Strategy’s goals. In this article, CRIN examines the IGF Strategy’s shortcomings: looking at the language we use about children, and what happens when institutional promises don’t align with their actions.

This week, the European Parliament had a long overdue opportunity to get an impact assessment started on the Food and Feed Safety Omnibus. In a joint letter, CRIN and five other child rights and youth organisations urged MEP Pieter Liese to support the request to study the effects of the Omnibus more rigorously, emphasising its potential impact on children. Our call was left unanswered.

The UK is rushing to ban social media for children. But CRIN and many other child protection and children’s rights experts have repeatedly warned that this is the wrong approach. Social media bans are a political band-aid; they blame children instead of existing harmful business models.