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.
The CRIN team was in Geneva in August for the second part of the fifth session on a treaty to end plastic pollution (INC-5.2), where we met siblings Zara and Ashton Hawkins. These under-18 environmental activists are founders of Hidden Plastic, an organisation that exposes the often-overlooked impact of plastics. In this interview, they reflect on the breakdown of the talks, share their experience inside negotiation rooms and discuss how young people can hold governments accountable.
In this interview, we speak with CRIN’s Climate Adviser Shirley Akinyi Ochieng, a 15-year-old environmental activist from Kenya who has been leading projects, campaigns and conversations advocating for the protection of her country’s environment. She discusses the impact of climate change in her community, as well as the importance of community awareness, government accountability and why children’s perspectives are needed in climate decision-making.
The UN’s Aarhus Convention is a legally binding international treaty that allows the public to take part in environmental governance. This article discusses how the Convention relates to children’s rights and how it can be used to advocate for environmental justice.
For survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, attempts to seek justice can have starkly different outcomes. This article looks at two recent cases of clergy abuse in Latin America, comparing the progress being made in Bolivia to a regression in Argentina, where the Supreme Court overturned one of the country’s most significant convictions.
Written by Niamh Purcell, Youth Climate Justice Advisor for CRIN & RtHE Campaign; Children’s Participatory Rights Advisor.
“Introducing climate justice into international law is the step that we need, because it means that courts will have to formally recognise the ways in which climate change impacts on human rights and human lives. It means that the crisis can no longer be ignored, or that mitigation can be kicked down the road. It will have to be dealt with, and not just in the short-term or with half-hearted efforts: it’s going to help close the gap between our future and our present. It’s going to save lives.” – Niamh Purcell
CRIN’s latest report shows how all stages of the UK's counter-terrorism system threaten children’s rights in chilling ways. From pre-criminal, to pre-trial, to trial and sentencing, we need reforms and approaches that genuinely protect children.
The landmark Advisory Opinions from the International Court of Justice and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights may have fundamentally reshaped States’ legal obligations on climate action. In this article, CRIN analyses both recent Advisory Opinions through a children’s rights lens, highlighting the often-overlooked position of children in climate policy and decision-making.
The world is witnessing a genocide in Gaza. In addition to the extreme loss of life, restrictions on humanitarian access and forced displacement, Gaza has also suffered devastating environmental degradation and is being impacted by the climate crisis. CRIN's latest briefing considers the combined impact of Israel’s bombardment since 7 October 2023, environmental degradation and climate change on Gaza’s children, as well as the need for international legal action to address the effects.
Before COP30 in November, CRIN is critically reviewing the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of States: two initiatives aimed at enhancing the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). How can UN climate talks ensure both children’s rights and human rights are centred when discussing societal, sectoral and economic change?
CRIN’s latest report shows how all stages of the UK's counter-terrorism system threaten children’s rights in chilling ways. From pre-criminal, to pre-trial, to trial and sentencing, we need reforms and approaches that genuinely protect children.
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.
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.
The following recommendations have been developed by children and young people who advise and collaborate with the Child Rights International Network (CRIN). All 16 recommendations rely on and are grounded in international law, drawing from the Advisory Opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice and General Comment 26 from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, among other documents.