Introduction

Children’s rights

Your child has rights.

In fact, every child in the world under the age of 18 has their own set of rights, on top of the human rights that people of all ages have.

These are called children’s rights, and they’re written in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

They outline what children need to give them the best chance of growing up happy, healthy, and safe.

Adults such as parents, schools, councils and governments have a responsibility to make sure that children get their rights.

In Wales, our government has agreed that all children should get these rights.

In practical terms, this means:

Welsh Government must think about how any new laws affect children’s rights
All public bodies should give your children their rights. This includes:
- In school
- When they get medical help
- In their youth club
- Your local council

They’re there to give children the best chance of growing up happy, healthy, and safe.

In this guide, we’ve split them up into three main areas:

Each area explains more about your child’s rights, and includes resources and useful links to help you and your child understand children’s rights.

We’re here to promote and protect children’s rights in Wales.

This means we do these things:

Give you advice if you think your child’s rights haven’t been respected when using a service
Listen to thousands of children each year about their everyday experiences of their rights
Help organisations to understand why rights are so important, and to respect the rights of the children they work with
We try to change laws – both new and existing laws, so that they’re better for children, and respect their rights.