Human rights group welcomes improvement in children’s rights

The Irish Human Rights Commission is holding a conference today urging lawyers and those involved in children's organisations to enforce new rights based laws at their level.

The conference takes place in the context of recent legislative developments regarding children.

The IHRC is welcoming the fact that a number of changes to children's rights legislation are likely to be introduced by this Government but it is concerned that the changes will not be adequately enforced at local level.

Chief executive of the IHRC Dr Alpha Connelly says there have been significant improvements in children's rights in recent times.

“The creation of an office of an Ombudsman for children which is very recent,” she said. “Even more recently is the appointment of a Minister for Children Brian Lenihan.

“Now obviously, all these initiatives will in time feed through into policy, into legislation and hopefully there will be greater awareness and protection of the interests of children.”