The ISPCC has today said that children who are currently homeless in Ireland are worse off than children who are homeless in the UK.

Today’s child summit marks a turning point as it brings together agents of change with the very policymakers who have the power to implement them, says Tanya Ward

Approximately 95% of our primary schools are run by churches. This situation cannot be allowed to continue, argues Michael Barron of the rights group, Equate

The United Nations has expressed concern about how the economic crash has affected children here.

Get a taste of some of the interesting and quirky happenings in Europe from our Europe correspondent, Ann Cahill

The high number of children living in poverty; the housing shortage that sees families living in hotels; and the lives of Travellers, who have an infant mortality rate three times the average, were all raised by members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The plight of children in poverty and homelessness will today come under an international spotlight when government representatives go before a UN inspection team to defend their record on children’s rights.

Ireland has moved to strengthen the rights of children, but there is much to do, says Tanya Ward

The Children’s Rights Alliance has urged a UN committee which will review Ireland’s record on children to make recommendations, including urging a ban on corporal punishment and a review of the gardaí’s Pulse system.

The Children's Rights Alliance says the lack of choice in schools is likely to come under renewed scrutiny in January, when Ireland's rights record is examined.

The Government’s approach to child poverty has been severely criticised by the Children’s Ombudsman.

Ireland is eight years late in submitting a major report to the UN on tackling discrimination against women.

JUST like peace on The Lake Isle of Innisfree, change comes dropping far too slowly in this society — at least for those who do not subscribe to the traditional and rigid conservatism that for decades masked so much inequity, stasis, misogyny, and a publicly trumpeted determination by the most powerful influences to hold the line against the advances of a modernising, Eurocentric democracy.

Indiana could become the first US state to allow use of baby boxes on a broad scale to prevent dangerous abandonments of infants if a bill, which unanimously passed the House this week, clears the state senate.

Islamic State militants are selling abducted Iraqi children at markets as sex slaves, and killing other youths, including by crucifixion or burying them alive, a UN watchdog said.

Islamic State militants are selling abducted Iraqi children at markets as sex slaves, and killing other youths, including by crucifixion or burying them alive, a UN watchdog said.

Survivors of Magdalene laundries will begin to receive enhanced pensions and weekly top-up payments from the Department of Social Protection in the coming week, as part of the redress package designed by Mr Justice John Quirke.

Two of the four Orders which ran the Magdalene laundries have reaffirmed their refusal to offer any financial contribution to the compensation fund for survivors.

Justice for Magdalenes Research says justice not only requires prompt provision of compensation, pensions, healthcare, and other benefits, but also the truth about what happened in the laundries

The UN has called on the Vatican to investigate the Magdalene laundries so those responsible for the abuse suffered in the institutions can be prosecuted.

The western world has not seen an empire collapse as spectacularly as the Catholic Church since the Habsburg and British empires began to lose their unquestioned — and unquestionable — power just over a century ago. On this historical scale the relatively brief terror of communism is irrelevant.

The Government has accused an anti-smacking campaign group of misinformation and a lack of balance in its bid to have the practice banned in Ireland.

A UN human rights panel has posed a list of tough questions to the Vatican about child abuse by Catholic priests, a potential embarrassment for Pope Francis.

A United Nations human rights body has accused Israeli forces of mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields.

YOU report (June 19) that Minister for Children Barry Andrews stated the child protection issues facing the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children may be best dealt with through the legislative process rather than through constitutional change.

A TROUBLED 15-year-old girl who has been using drugs and has gone missing 25 times this year has been further remanded in custody until Friday pending efforts to place her into foster care.

A CRITICAL United Nations report that has laid out specific targets for the Government to improve its record in children’s rights has been welcomed by campaigners and the Ombudsman for Children.

A UNITED NATIONS committee has given the Government three years to make major changes to policy, legislation and funding for children’s welfare.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell defended his decision to prosecute 10-year-olds for serious crime, despite United Nations concern over the move.

AFTER 14 years of having ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), it might be expected that the Government would have implemented key areas of it.

A UN report out next month is expected to criticise the Irish Government for ignoring the rights of unmarried fathers.

THE Green Party said up to 15,000 children from non-EU countries should be allowed entry into Ireland to be reunited with their parents who have permission to work here.

THE Government has been asked to make three key changes over the next three months to improve children’s rights, including giving children an independent legal voice in their parents divorce proceedings.

IRELAND’S record on the rights of children is to be publicly criticised by the State’s human rights watchdog during a top United Nations investigation.

THE Ombudsman for Children is to brief the United Nations on the urgent need to end the placing of Irish children in adult psychiatric units at a briefing in Geneva next month.

CHILDREN, particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, are being placed at risk by the government's failure to amend the Constitution, according to child and legal experts.

Two members of a powerful United Nations group will jet into Dublin today to examine at first-hand how Irish children are treated.

CHILDREN, particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, are being placed at risk by the government's failure to amend the Constitution, according to child and legal experts.

The Government is reportedly considering raising the age of criminal responsibility in Ireland from seven to 10 years.

A human rights group has urged Burma’s military government to immediately discharge child soldiers from its army after a UN panel found that the practice was widespread there, in violation of international laws.

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