Open letters and joint statements

April 2024

Joint letter on the cancellation of the May pre-session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Amidst growing concerns over the cancellation of the May pre-session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, a coalition of civil society organizations has penned a joint letter urging UN Member States to address the issue promptly, highlighting its implications for children's rights advocacy and engagement.

June 2023

Open letter to the UN Secretary-General on his annual report on children and armed conflict

Along with 20 other NGOs CRIN signed this renewed call to the UN Secretary General to include a full list of perpetrators of human rights violations against children in his report on children and armed conflict.

February 2023

Key Priority Issues on Child Rights and the Digital Environment

On the Annual Day of the Human Rights Council & UNGA Resolution on Children’s Rights in the digital environment & Global Digital Compact, we submitted a joint position paper together with Child Rights Connect, 5Rights Foundation, World Vision International, Make Mothers Matter, Plan International, Plataforma de Infancia and Save the Children International.

December 2022

Joint manifesto for an urgent ban of ‘forever chemicals’ PFAS

CRIN is among 46 European civil society organisations urgently demand EU Member States and the Commission to ban all PFAS in consumer products by 2025 and across all uses by 2030.

July 2022

Joint statement on United Kingdom “Rights Removal Bill”

CRIN has co-signed a joint statement with 125 charities working in Scotland, condeming the UK Government’s introduction of a Bill to Parliament that would repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with significantly reduced protections for human rights; a “Rights Removal Bill”.

May 2022

Joint call to the Human Rights Council for the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine

CRIN co-signed a joint letter delivered by Child Rights Connect at the Council’s Special Session on Ukraine. Child Rights Connect and its members called for the cessation of hostilities, as well as for all domestic and international mechanisms currently documenting violations and investigating crimes in Ukraine to include child-specific expertise.

April 2022

Joint letter on the impact of Human Rights Act proposals on children in the UK

CRIN signed a joint letter from children’s rights organisations to the United Kingdom Justice Secretary, opposing the Government’s proposals to reform the Human Rights Act, on the basis that they would significantly weaken human rights protections for children in the UK.

March 2022

Joint call for meaningful and inclusive participation of working children at the 5th Global Conference on Child Labour

CRIN co-signed a joint letter to the organisers of the 5th Global Conference on Child Labour calling for equal, inclusive and transparent participation of working children at the event. The call was co-signed by 14 movements of working children, over 150 NGOs and more than 100 researchers.

November 2021

Call for mainstreaming children’s rights and for a UN-wide strategy on children’s rights

Together with 100 other organisations around the globe from all regions, CRIN endorsed Child Rights Connect’s position paper calling on the UN to put child rights at the core of its action.

September 2021

Call to the Human Rights Council for the creation of a new UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change

CRIN supported this statement delivered during the 48th session of the Human Rights Council calling for the creation of a new Special Rapporteur. The Council must act now to protect the rights of young people, children, and communities at risk across the world.

September 2021

Call to the Human Rights Council to recognise the right to a healthy environment

CRIN supported this statement delivered during the 48th session of the Human Rights Council calling on States to proceed to the global recognition during this session.

May 2021

DCI statement to the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem

CRIN supported this statement made by Defence for Children International (DCI) at a Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council to address the grave human rights situation facing children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem. DCI took the floor as the only child rights organisation, calling for urgent action to ensure accountability for violations.

May 2021

Open letter calling for a complete and accurate list of perpetrators

CRIN joined 17 other NGOs in calling on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to publish a complete list of perpetrators of grave violations in his upcoming annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict. The letter urges the Secretary-General to publish a list that is evidence-based and accurately reflects data collected and verified by the UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM).

April 2021

Civil society calls on ECOSOC to elect members of the NGO committee committed to fairness and transparency

We are one year out from elections to the ECOSOC Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations for the 2023-2026 term. Alongside 73 other organisations, CRIN is calling for the election of members that are committed to fulfilling the Committee’s mandate in a fair, transparent, non-discriminatory, expeditious and apolitical manner.

Read more about CRIN’s campaign to reform the NGO Committee.

March 2021

Children and armed conflict at the Human Rights Council

CRIN supported several joint statements during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

Read Save the Children-led Joint statement, Plan International-led Joint statement, DCI-led Joint statement.

March 2021

Civil society calls on governments to recognise the right to a healthy environment

More than 1,000 organisations have been calling on UN Member States to recognise the right to a healthy environment at the global level. A new statement has been delivered during the 46th session of the Human Rights Council. To complement this global call, over 90 organisations across the world have come together to call on the Human Rights Council to recognise children's right to a healthy environment. 

February 2021

UN child rights committee delivers decision in a case in which CRIN intervened

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child handed down its first decision about the rights of a child of an LGBT couple. The Committee found that Finland failed to consider the best interests of the child of a lesbian couple when assessing his asylum request. Now the country is under an obligation to provide reparation. CRIN intervened in the complaint with ILGA World, ILGA Europe, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Network of European LGBTIQ* Families Associations (NELFA).

Read the press release, third-party intervention and our summary of the decision.

February 2021

CRIN joins boycott of UK Government’s Prevent review

The UK government has made it clear that it has no interest in conducting an objective and impartial review of its Prevent counter-terrorism policy. We cannot be complicit in a process that serves only to rubber stamp a fundamentally flawed strategy. CRIN joined a coalition of human rights organisations to boycott the review.

June 2020

Joint call to action on children's right to a healthy environment

A group of 24 organisations is calling on UN Member States to realise children’s right to a healthy environment. The joint call to action is being made following the UN Human Rights Council’s annual day on the rights of the child.

June 2020

NGO coalition calls on UN chief to reconsider omitting all guilty parties in armed conflict from his 'list of shame'

A coalition of organisations is urging the UN Secretary-General to reconsider his decision to not condemn States and groups guilty of killing and recruiting children in armed conflict within his annual ‘list of shame’.

May 2020

Joint statement on discrimination and inequality in the global response to Covid-19

CRIN, alongside a coalition of 12 leading global equality organisations, signed a joint statement calling on States to make sure their measures responding to the Covid-19 pandemic take into account the rights of groups facing discrimination, including older persons, children, persons with disabilities, women, indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees and stateless persons.

May 2020

Open letter calling for UN chief to name all armed conflict perpetrators

CRIN is among 20 NGOs calling on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to publish a complete and accurate list of perpetrators of grave violations against children in armed conflict in his upcoming annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict.

April 2020

Coalition calls for children’s rights respect regarding the rapid adoption of online learning tools under Covid-19

CRIN, among more than 30 other human rights and civil liberties organisations, parent, teacher and consumer groups worldwide, called on data protection authorities to respect children's rights in the digital environment in education amid the global rush to deliver emergency instruction online during the pandemic.

February 2020

Joint letter calling on UK government to introduce legislation restricting the use of toxic chemicals in food packaging

Almost everyone in the world has Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in their body, and children are now being born pre-polluted with PFAS. With the use of paper and board food packaging containing PFAS set to increase as supermarkets move away from plastic, organisations and activists urge the UK government to restrict its use.

July 2019

Joint intervention in ECHR case

CRIN has submitted a joint intervention to the European Court of Human Rights on the right of twins born through surrogacy to same-sex parents to inherit their father’s nationality. 

June 2019

Right to a family: Joint statement on children’s right to live and grow up with a family

CRIN, alongside other disability rights and children’s rights organisations and networks, signed a joint statement emphasising the right of all children, including those in institutions and other alternative care settings, to grow up with a family under international law.

November 2019

NGOs call on UN rights chief to condemn repression of Hong Kong protesters

A group of 22 NGOs has issued a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, calling on her to publicly denounce the Hong Kong government’s systematic violations of protesters’ rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

May 2019

UN: List all warring parties responsible for violations against children

CRIN has signed an open letter with 21 organisations calling on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to publish a complete and accurate list of perpetrators of violations against children in his upcoming annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict.

April 2019

Students have a right to protest, schools must respect it

School students have led major protests in recent months against climate change negligence and stood up to the complacency of passive politicians. CRIN has written a statement supporting the student strikes, along with a template students can use to challenge the threat of punishments for protesting.

December 2018

Response to Google on Project Dragonfly, China, and Human Rights

Civil society organisations including CRIN have signed an open letter calling for Google to drop Project Dragonfly and any plans to launch a censored search app in China.

November 2018

Urge the UN to Support Resolution on Human Rights in Iran

Forty civil society organizations including CRIN have signed a letter urging UN member states to support a resolution on human rights in Iran that will be presented to the UN General Assembly on November 15, 2018.