Message from Dr Mike Lindsay, CRAE’s new national co-ordinator
We were delighted to welcome Dr Mike Lindsay as CRAE’s new national co-ordinator earlier this month. Mike has taken over the role until December 2009, while Carolyne Willow takes a year’s unpaid leave. Having been the first ever children’s rights officer in the UK, Mike joins us from the Office of the Children’s Rights Director where he has been Head of Advice since 2002.
"I am very privileged to have been given the opportunity to act as CRAE’s National co-ordinator for 2009. As the 20th anniversary year of the United Nations’ adoption of its Convention on the Rights of the Child, I know that 2009 will provide some unique opportunities for making progress on many important aspects of children’s rights.
"The UK should be foremost amongst world leaders in the field of children’s human rights. This means we should aspire to something even better for our children than meeting our obligations under the Convention.
"Alongside its already widely publicised commitments to deliver world-class services, particularly in the areas of health and education, we call upon Government to mark this anniversary year by pledging to deliver the world-class commitment to children’s rights that all children in this country so richly deserve.
"A first encouraging step would be for Government to give its full response to the Concluding Observations made by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to the UK Government on 3 October 2008. We urge Government to ensure this is achieved before the 20th anniversary on 20 November 2009.
"CRAE is the only non-governmental organisation charged with an exclusive brief to seek the full implementation of the Convention in England. Our independence, expertise and, crucially, the support of our members, give us a strong platform to achieve real change for children. We have had many recent successes – including the impressive and influential submissions made to the UN committee last year by young Get ready for Geneva activists, based on their unprecedented children’s rights investigation.
"CRAE will vigorously pursue the many challenges and opportunities presented this year. We will continue to work constructively with our partners to achieve real change. This will include supporting and encouraging Government where it is moving in the right direction, and holding Government to account where it is failing children. You will be able to read about our plans and the progress we are making, right here and also in our regular members’ bulletins. I look forward to a very productive year – one that is worthy of the unique opportunity that the 20th anniversary provides."
Dr Mike Lindsay
National co-ordinator
Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE)
January 2009
