Review of Ireland by the Committee on the Rights of the Child
(Ireland’s implementation of the Rights of the Child)
In August 2022 the Presentation Interprovincial Justice Desk as part of the International Presentation Association, in collaboration with other congregations, made a joint submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Our submission contributed to the review of Ireland by the Committee which examines how well the Convention on the Rights of the Child is being implemented in Ireland and the steps taken by Government to ensure that every child’s rights are protected. The submission outlined concerns and recommendations across five specific areas of concern:
- Children as victims of Domestic violence.
- Children as victims of Human trafficking.
- Children living in the Direct Provision system.
- Right to education.
- Racism in schools.
This joint submission was a collaborative effort by the International Presentation Association (IPA) with the Christian Brothers European Province Advocacy Office, Our Lady of Apostles Ireland, the Society of African Missions – Irish Province, the Cork Migrant Centre , and Presentation Brothers Ireland. This work was supported with input from local grassroots groups and both national and international civil society organisations including Barnardos, in Ireland.
The Review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the body of 18 Independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. All countries who have signed the Convention are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights are being implemented. Ireland is under review this year.
Our Joint Submission
You can download the IPA Joint Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child here and our submission to the Committee with respect to the rights of those children with families in prison can be found here.
January 2023 –
On Tuesday 24th of January prior to the first session of the Review of Ireland, those in Civil Society gathered in a small room in the Palais Wilson to plan how to maximise the impact of their attendance by sharing printed submissions with each other, by linking with like-minded NGOs where we spontaneously collaborated around social media and messaging.
Roderic O’ Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth led a large Irish Delegation that attended the Review. The Committee on the Rights of the Child posed upwards of 50 questions in the first session whereupon the Irish Delegation retired for 20 minutes to prepare their answers. Upon their return as many questions as was feasibly possible were answered and those that couldn’t were flagged by the Minister as questions he would come to in time when more information became available. The Committee was rigorous in its’ examination and very well informed and indeed commented from time to time on the quality of the answers provided where they thought more needed to be done or that the answers weren’t comprehensive enough.
The Committee were extremely critical of the lack of availability of quality disaggregated data that would offer a clear picture of those children in Ireland furthest behind. We were able to approach the individual committee members on this very topic of poor data with respect to children who are victims of human trafficking and domestic violence and ask them to press this issue home in subsequent or follow up questions. We were also able to approach the Irish civil servants to ask for clarity where we felt answers fell short of what was required. This was a real advantage of being present in the chamber. We were able to have a real-time influence on the proceedings through by engaging with the Committee and the Irish Delegation and further, we are also able to bring to the Committee queries or questions that were being posed by co-authors of our submission who were watching the sessions online at home in Ireland.