Amnesty calls for immediate children's referendum

Amnesty International is calling on the Government to hold a Children's Rights referendum immediately.

It comes as the organisation is launching its annual report today which examines human rights in 157 countries, including Ireland.

The report strongly criticises Ireland's record on children protection.

It found that the Irish Government failed to implement a number of commitments it made in 2009 following the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

This included a failure to introduce draft legislation to give child protection guidelines a statutory basis.

Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, Colm O'Gorman said it was time the Government stop talking and take action.

"We've has 20 years or more of revelations about failures to properly protect children, because our policy and practise in that area isn't under-pinned by an obligation to recognise and respect children's rights," he said.