The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends that all governments conduct child rights impact assessments of all policy and programme decisions that could potentially affect children as part of their obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the same time, the EU Guidelines for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child support the mainstreaming of children’s rights in all EU policy and action.

Child rights mainstreaming is a means to fulfil EC obligations under the CRC. It entails using the principles and standards of the CRC as a reference point in order to assess the implications of all policies and programmes on the rights and interests of girl and boy children. It is about making children visible in the policy and programming process, by systematically considering their rights and making their voices and interests heard.

When you have finished this section, you will be familiar with:

• The importance of child rights mainstreaming to good development practice
  


• The relationship between child rights mainstreaming and a child rights based approach to programming; and
  


• What the key elements of a child rights-based approach are and how it differs from a child-focused approach

This chapter contains 20 slides and will take approximately 90-120 minutes to complete, including the concluding exercise.