Article 12
Article 12 was a youth-led children's rights organisation based in England. Its main aim was to ensure the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child UNCRC. Welsh Regional Coordinator 1998 - 2000 was Millie Collins
About
The group, run by a steering committee, worked to ensure the rights of young people were heard by decision makers. It was founded after a young people's rights conference in Greenwich, London (England) and was run by and for young people aged 18 and under. The administrative duties of Article 12 were run by CRAE (Children's Rights Alliance for England).
The group's most high-profile campaigns included 'Stop Smacking Us' (challenging Reasonable Chastisement) when it led a rally in Westminster to 10 Downing Street with 100 children. Its members have represented the United Kingdom at several United Nation's sessions. In 1999 Daisy Langmaid and David Joseph Henry took part in 10th commemorative meeting of the UNCRC in Geneva. In 2001 James Anderson and Lucy Mason took part in the Special Session on Children in New York. Many of its key members have gone on to become Human Rights activists.
Article 12 also produced a report in 2000. It was called Respect and was "a report into how well Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is put into Practice across the UK". The team who produced this report called themselves CR2000, which stood for Children's Rights 20000. The report was put together by the members of CR2000 conducting interviews and research with children in schools, youth groups etc., gaining their opinions and views on how well their rights were upheld and how much their opinions were heard. Members of the team were :
Anna Fisher, Daisy Langmaid, Emma Richardson, Francine Lansdown, Georgia Lansdown, Hossnieh Nayyeri, James Anderson, Laura Fisher, Lucy Mason, Michael Baker, Millie Collins, Robert O'Farrell, Tamsin Landells,
This organisation is no longer active but its work continues through CRAE and work of former members who continue to work in the young people's rights movement.
See also
- Article 12 in Scotland