We believe children deserve to have their rights fully recognised and respected, just as all humans do.
We want to ask hard questions about how we live, what needs to change and how we can contribute to a planet where all the intersections of our identities can thrive.
As we move towards the end of 2024, CRIN is looking back at the year in child rights climate litigation and looking ahead to what might come next. These reflections include State obligations to prevent harm caused by climate change under the European Court of Human Rights and in the International Court of Justice, growing national litigation related to environmental justice and the challenges children still face.
The words below come from passionate young people who advise and collaborate with CRIN, Alana, Plan International Netherlands, ChildFund Alliance, Child Rights Connect, Madhvi4EcoEthics and other children’s rights organisations on their work on children’s right to a safe, healthy and sustainable environment. They met ahead of COP29 to discuss key messages to COP negotiators.
Since 2014 British army trainees aged under 18 at the Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate have suffered an ingrained culture of abuse by instructors, as well as endemic bullying among recruits themselves. CRIN’s new chronological report highlights every known account of abuse at AFC between 2014 and 2024 - drawing on official data, national media reports, court judgments and the testimonies of former recruits and their parents.
As an IFEX member, CRIN has signed a statement put forward by 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, the Maharat Foundation and the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), condemining the deliberate targeting and killing of journalists in Palestine and Lebanon by Israeli forces.
Along with lead organisation Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) and 30+ other civil society organisations and peers, CRIN has signed this open letter to the mining company Anglo American, urging them to address decades of mass lead poisoning affecting children in Kabwe, Zambia.
From local events to international meetups across the world, climate assemblies are becoming all the more common and pressing. Child Rights International Network, Youth Environment Europe and the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies came together to host a webinar that highlights the impact of children and young people in these spaces.
Between April and July 2024 Defence for Children International (DCI) and CRIN co-hosted a webinar series highlighting the reality of Palestinian children’s rights under military occupation of the West Bank and the unfolding genocide in Gaza. Below are recommendations for action that emerged from the webinar series. We invite you to think critically about what role you can play in implementing these recommendations - everyone can make an impact, no matter how small it may seem.
Along with Greenpeace, Amnesty International and other initiators, Child Rights International Network is calling on the European Union to close “hypocritical, cruel, unfair and intolerable” loopholes which allow companies based in the EU to export banned toxic products to other parts of the world, including the sale of unsafe children’s toys.
CRIN joins over 160 European organisations to issue a statement calling on the EU and its member states to Suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement and all the related agreements. European countries have the responsibility to prevent genocide under international law and, therefore, must take all diplomatic, economic and political measures within their power to prevent genocide in Gaza.
CRIN’s new chronological report highlights every known account of abuse at the Army Foundation College between 2014 and 2024 - drawing on official data, national media reports, court judgments and the testimonies of former recruits and their parents.
Our new report uncovers the links between hazardous chemicals and children’s rights violations in the European Union (EU) and beyond.
Not enough has been done to prevent the recurrence of child sexual abuse by the United Nations peacekeepers. Another scandal cannot be tolerated and abuse must stop. Our strategy sets out what it would take to fight the impunity for child sexual exploitation and abuse committed by UN peacekeepers and is available in English, Spanish or French.
It sets out our values, our principles and our vision for a rights-respecting world and how we intend to get there, in the hope that others will collaborate or simply take inspiration and start their own rebellion.
After two weeks of furious negotiations, COP29 concluded in Azerbaijan with a new finance goal that fails those most affected by the climate crisis, including children. In this piece, we break down this COP’s key outcomes, its controversies and emphasises the intersections of climate justice and human rights.