Free Hybrid Event to mark UK Children’s Rights Day – “Upholding Children’s Rights? The Implementation of the UNCRC: A Comparison of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland”

Garden Court Chambers Children’s Rights Team are hosting this celebration of children’s rights. We will be exploring the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the comparative approaches taken by the four nations of the UK to mark National Children’s Day UK (NCDUK).

Please join us to hear from our distinguished speakers and to learn about the various ways the devolved powers have affected the implementation of the UNCRC. We will be hearing from speakers on the different experiences across the four nations and share the perspectives on incorporation of the UNCRC into law within these systems, to understand what is and what isn't working and how you can use children’s rights in your litigation.

Programme

5.30pm: Registration

5.45pm: Introduction & Welcome

5.50pm - 7.00pm: Panel Discussion

• Amanda Weston KC and Kate Aubrey-Johnson, both of Garden Court Chambers, will speak about the ways that Article 3(1) UNCRC and Article 12 have been made meaningful in the English courts.
   
• Dr Rhian Croke, Children’s Legal Centre Wales / Swansea University, will provide the Welsh perspective and discuss domesticating the UNCRC through the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 and its impact on the status of children's rights in Wales.
   
• Professor Bruce Adamson, former Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, will speak on the Scottish experience and the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 due to come into effect on 16 July.
   

• Dr Deena Haydon will provide the Northern Irish perspective drawing on twenty years of research and having authored the Northern Ireland NGO Stakeholder Report 2 Evidence, and Rights Here, Right Now: Children and Young People’s Report submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2022.

7.00pm - 7.30pm: Case Studies and Q&A Session

7.30pm: Drinks & Networking

Speakers
 

Kate Aubrey-Johnson, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Kate is a youth justice specialist barrister and mediator at Garden Court Chambers with experience as a criminal defence practitioner and public lawyer. She is a convenor of the Garden Court Children's Rights Team. Kate is co-author of the leading textbook Youth Justice Law and Practice (LAG, 2019), consultant editor for Halsbury’s Laws of England, Vol 27, Criminal Procedure (5th Edition) on proceedings involving children. She is a lead facilitator for a forthcoming Inns of Court College of Advocacy course for ‘Advocacy for Children in Conflict with the Law’ and she chairs the Ministry of Justice/Youth Justice Board’s Quality of Advocacy Working Group. 

Amanda Weston KC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Amanda is a leading public and administrative law silk. She co-authors Judicial Review: A Practical Guide (Lexis Nexis) and is a member of the ‘A’ Panel of preferred Counsel who act for the Equality & Human Rights Commission. Amanda has acted in hundreds of asylum and human rights appeals including in high-profile and sensitive cases and those involving extradition. Her cases include gender and sexuality cases, complex political and religious cases and appeals for children and vulnerable adults. Amanda also acts in cases in the Family Division, Administrative Court and appeal courts where the rights of children and young people are in play. 

Dr Rhian Croke, Child Rights Strategic Litigation and Policy Advocacy Lead, Swansea University
Dr Rhian Croke is the Child Rights Strategic Litigation and Policy Advocacy Lead for Children’s Legal Centre Wales, leading on promoting an environment that uses the law strategically to affect change for children in Wales. She also carries out research and advisory work with the Observatory on Human Rights of Children, working with public bodies and advising them on embedding children’s rights into practice. Rhian was previously the Coordinator of the Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group, where she played a pivotal role in leading children’s rights monitoring and reporting to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and successfully promoted legislative and policy reform on children’s rights. Rhian has a PhD from the School of Law at Swansea University, an MPhil in Social Sciences from the University of Cape Town and an LLB from the University of Edinburgh.

Professor Bruce Adamson, former Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland
Bruce Adamson is a Professor in Practice at the University of Glasgow School of Law, working with the Glasgow Open Justice Centre, which aims to drive social change through legal education and research. A human rights lawyer qualified in three jurisdictions with over 20 years of experience, Bruce has worked as an international expert for the UN, the Council of Europe, EU, OSCE, UNICEF and various other international bodies. He was the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland from 2017-2023, playing a leading role in the incorporation of the UNCRC. Bruce is also the current Vice-Chair of the Child Friendly Governance Project.

Dr Deena Haydon, Children’s Rights Activist, Northern Ireland
Dr Deena Haydon is an independent research consultant based in Northern Ireland. Her main areas of research and publication focus on social constructions of ‘childhood’, implementation of children's rights, early intervention, youth justice, secure care and custody. She has worked with government departments, health and social care services, local authorities, the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, the Children's Law Centre and other NGOs working with children and families. In addition to book chapters and journal articles, she has produced reports, resources for children and practitioners, consultation responses and submissions to the CRC. She has presented workshops, seminars and conference papers to academic, professional and public audiences in the UK, Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand. 

Reserve your in-person or online ticket

Please fill in the form below to reserve your in-person or online ticket. In-person tickets are limited to the capacity of the venue. After you have completed the form, we will be back in touch to confirm your in-person place at this event. 

If you have booked an online ticket, we will send joining details to everyone who has signed up on the day of the event. Please check your junk inbox if you have not received the link by Tuesday 14th May. If you have not received the link by 3pm on Tuesday 14th May, and it is not in your junk inbox, please email seminars@gclaw.co.uk.