Lena Stahlschmidt
Walking into the building where the conference on children and youth rights was being held I realized I knew little about the rights of children and youth…. actually I knew little about what we were going to be doing for an entire day around these rights. I quickly learned that this conference was put on by the Ministry of Youth Development surrounding the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC). UNCROC is a document created and recoacggnized by the United Nations outlining children’s and young people’s rights. In 1997 The UN submitted a detailed report recommending changes within New Zealand to be made in order to be in compliance with UNCROC. However many of the recommendations made by the UN have not been changed by NZ. The forum was set up as a way to discuss the government’s role and progress in children and youth rights and to allow the opportunity for youth, government and NGO representatives to collaborate around these issues. This meeting was the first forum where youth, governmental and non-governmental agencies came together to discuss the rights of children outlined by UNCROC. There were over 60 different agencies represented as well as about 10 young people. Entering the building I could feel the dedication and passion many people had surrounding the issues.

The day began with two governmental official speakers explaining the state NZ is at with children and youth development in the context of children’s rights. The picture they painted made it seem as though New Zealand is doing quite well. This was met by some critiques from an NGO representative putting forth some questions to ponder throughout the day. With that we were off…

Education and UNCROC
I headed downstairs to begin the educational disparities workshop.’ The Ministry of Education was presenting information about issues of disparities within education. Their presentation covered an array of areas:

• the low performance in writing skills
• low performance levels by boys
• tall Poppies (high achievers)

The Ministry also stated that research shows that the disparities are occurring within the classrooms, unlike in other countries where the disparities are between schools and districts. Their approach to address the inequality is to put the focus on individual students. Ideally the teacher would have the time and resources to focus on every student individually, however in reality due to school structure, class size, resources, and funding teachers don’t end up having the time to focus on every individual within the class. The result is the current situation; some kids are left behind, others aren’t pushed to their full potential. The Ministry’s new approach is targeted at years 1-4, as according to research, those years are predictive of a student’s future academic performance. Yet they did not set specific steps in how this is going to be achieved. Unfortunately at the end of their presentation we had little time for comments, questions, and feedback to address the unanswered questions.

We all left the room, myself a little unconvinced about the way in which the Ministry portrayed the current situation and the approach it planned on taking. What about issues of racism, poverty, unequal opportunity, discrimination, economic status, and how they affect children’s access to and performance in education? To me it seems that these issues are critical in understanding and addressing disparities within the educational system. How do they plan on dealing with students who are falling behind in the first 4 years? As I pondered these thoughts I eased my mind with an array of delicious food. While we were munching down food there was an expo set up with members from 11 different government agencies and organisations. I walked around the room picking up brochures and having brief discussions about how the organisations were related to children’s rights.

Mental Health and UNCROC
As I was contemplating on whether to go for 3rds of the desserts we were called back downstairs for the 2nd workshop of the day. I was assigned to the Youth and Mental Health discussion put on by the Ministry of Health. They began with looking at their current strategy followed by an overview of their strategic plan for the coming years. The new plan focused on:

• looked at the entire picture rather than just an illness
• not defining a person by their illness
• educating District Health Boards (DHB’s) more about the child population and best practices to use with children.
• making services more accessible.

They left the rest of the time for input and ideas about what should be added or addressed in the report. The group proposed ideas about family support, mentors in school, resources, access, focus on preventative methods (rather than waiting till there is an extreme problem), changing the image of metal health, and taking a holistic approach (so looking at the whole picture: family, friends, physical health etc). The Ministry seemed responsive to the feedback and willing to look at their shortcomings. It was interesting to see the different perspectives that everybody had to contribute depending on their background. It reminded the importance of have a wide array of input in order to create an approach that is effective across all spectrums.

So let’s hear from the young people!
We reconvened upstairs for a closing recap of the day and a presentation from the young people’s group. The youth members got up and presented the issues that they had been discussing throughout the day. This for me was the most important aspect of the entire day. Having adults sit around and discuss how to better address children’s and young people’s rights is a step in the right direction, however it is crucial to include children’s and young people’s opinions in this process.

The young people brought up issue of:

• voting age and lack of political youth representation and input into issues that affect them.
• the need for a change in how youth are portrayed and the stereotypes surrounding youth
• The need for more information and access for youth on their rights.

It was quite short…I mean considering that the entire day was about issues affecting children and youth I would have thought more emphasis would be placed on the youth group outcomes!

At the end of the day I left with more questions than I entered with. What actual steps is the government taking to address the issues? What will really make a difference in these areas? Are they going to listen and take action on the NGOs and youth suggestions? What steps are going to be taken to make sure that the government makes steps towards being in total compliance with UNCROC? How can we make sure that children’s and young people’s rights are being upheld and honoured? Where do we go from here? That’s the thing about information…. Sometimes knowing’ brings about more questions.

The images were first published in Tearaway magazine and is reprinted here with their permission.

Illustrator: Toby Morris