{"id":241,"date":"2026-05-11T09:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T08:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/?p=241"},"modified":"2026-05-12T12:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:33:57","slug":"i-have-a-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/2026\/05\/11\/i-have-a-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"I Have a Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Young Person, Sarah Martin. Posted on 11 May 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Young person, Sarah Martin, writes about her dream for the UNCRC to be incorporated into domestic law in Northern Ireland. She discusses the importance of the UNCRC in articulating children\u2019s rights, supporting her work as a children\u2019s rights defender, and facilitating productive conversations with adults. She emphasises that any attempt to incorporate the UNCRC must involve the direct input of children Professor Bronagh Byrne then responds (found here<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UNCRC is a treaty which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and has gone on to be one of the most widely ratified human rights treaties in history! Many of us have heard about it but are we fully aware of how this treaty works and how it could be used here in Northern Ireland?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UNCRC stands for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and is a legally binding international agreement which contains the social, economic, cultural and civil rights which apply to all young people under the age of 18. These rights help protect young people as they ensure our development, survival, and participation are always considered, meaning our governments and decision makers must act on what is best for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UNCRC itself contains 54 articles in total which set out comprehensive rights like the right to education or healthcare. The agreement has four core principles that help us interpret its content and how to implement its articles. They also symbolise a new attitude toward children demonstrating that we are an entitled party who are active holders of rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four key principles are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Non discrimination (Article 2): this makes it clear that rights apply to all children with no exceptions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Best interests of the child (Article 3): the best interests of the child should always be a key priority or primary consideration in all actions that involve us as in reality we are the ones who will deal with the consequences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The right to life, survival and development (Article 6): this does not mean doing the bare minimum but instead all children should be supported to reach their full potential in all aspects of life. This means physically, mentally, morally, socially and spiritually.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The right to be heard (Article 12): this guarantees that children should be allowed to express their views on issues that affect them as there is nothing about us without us. This principle also guarantees that these views are actively listened to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Within my work as child rights defender, I am a firm believer in the UNCRC and its key principles as it\u2019s a great tool that can uplift children and young people. It allows young people to feel seen and empowered in their day-to-day lives. I know this because as a young person myself I feel like having the knowledge that I have on the UNCRC has really allowed me to reach my maximum potential, however I don’t think it is just young people who should have this knowledge. I believe that parents should also carry knowledge about the UNCRC as collaboration between the parent and the child is vital to making the best decisions for children. This is not me just saying this for the sake of saying it. I have witnessed its benefits through my relationship with my own parents.  Without knowing it my parents have been living by the UNCRC. They have always facilitated welcoming platforms for me to share my opinions on things and have always listened to me; they have always acted in my best interest; they have never discriminated against me because of my autism and they’ve always giving me amazing opportunities not just to survive but to grow and develop into who I am today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interesting thing is that when I was on this journey with my parents and I was teaching them about the UNCRC, they were shocked to find out that it had not already been incorporated into domestic law. This is a very valid reaction. I too find it shocking because it is such a powerful document that could benefit young people greatly. There have been similar reactions from young people when I have done talks about the UNCRC within my own school and in local primary schools, so the problem isn\u2019t that people or young people aren\u2019t able to acknowledge how important the UNCRC is, it is that we need action. Talk is cheap but actions matter. Even after speaking at an event for parents about incorporation of the UNCRC in Northern Ireland, the pattern continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it’s safe to say that young people would love to see the UNCRC incorporated into domestic law. Though there have been issues in the past (like covid) which hindered opportunities to have discussions in the Northern Ireland Assembly regarding this topic, we are approaching a time of significant change. I feel that we as a country are coming on quite well, with the voting age being lowered to 16 (which young people advocated for). The beginnings of more effective and closer collaborations between decision makers and young people are taking place, for example, a topic of discussion at the All-Party Group on Youth Participation in the Northern Ireland Assembly is \u201cAre young people\u2019s voices heard by decision makers?\u201d I have been in attendance during these meetings and have found that all groups know what politicians could and need to do to really hear young people\u2019s messages, as well as making great suggestions to find out if\/ how decision makers are doing so. However, I feel as though we can\u2019t have this conversation without a conversation about incorporation of the UNCRC with young people themselves. Young people who are not on platforms like NICCY (the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People), VOYPIC (Voice of Young People in Care) or the Youth Assembly or are in a position where they are discriminated against may not get the chance to have their voices heard unless that right is acknowledged in domestic law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Martin Luther King I have a dream. A dream for incorporation. A dream for our rights to be acknowledged in domestic law. Our rights are not a slogan for good times. They are a duty at all times.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About the Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Sarah is a child rights advocate. She is member of the Youth Panel for the Northern Ireland Commission of Children and Young People (NICCY) and the Child Advisory Team of Child Rights Connect. She worked with Child Rights Connect on a child-friendly summary on children\u2019s rights to health and participation on decisions about their health, presenting this document at the Council of Europe. She recently completed work experience with the Centre for Children\u2019s Rights at Queen\u2019s University Belfast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by Young Person, Sarah Martin. Posted on 11 May 2026. Young person, Sarah Martin, writes about her dream for the UNCRC to be incorporated into domestic law in Northern Ireland. She discusses the importance of the UNCRC in articulating children\u2019s rights, supporting her work as a children\u2019s rights defender, and facilitating productive conversations with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2456,"featured_media":244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-incorporation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2026\/05\/UNCRC-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2456"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions\/261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/childrensrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}