Belfast backs Children’s Champion as DUP and Sinn Féin support rights motions
Councillors unanimously back a Children’s Champion for Belfast and a rights-based approach to decisions affecting young people.
Belfast is to have a dedicated Children’s Champion after councillors unanimously backed two motions on children’s rights at the October meeting of the city council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee. DUP and Sinn Féin councillors supported each other’s proposals, Belfast Live reports.
DUP councillor Nichola Verner proposed the new role. The next step is a preliminary report examining its duties, oversight, resources and accountability, alongside ways to involve children and young people directly.
Giving children a say in council decisions
The proposal seeks to bring young people’s views into relevant council policies and initiatives at the “earliest appropriate stage”.
Verner said a champion would give children a clear advocate within the council and help ensure their needs were considered across its work, rather than separately. She highlighted decisions about parks, leisure facilities and community development as areas affecting young residents.
Young citizens account for a third of Belfast’s population, Verner told the committee, but do not always have the confidence, opportunities or suitable platforms to influence decisions.
Rights checks across council work
The Lord Mayor, Sinn Féin councillor Róis-Máire Donnelly, proposed the complementary motion. It asks the council to put children’s rights at the centre of its functions and include “Child Rights Impact Assessments” in decision-making.
It also urges the Northern Ireland Executive to bring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law.
The DUP motion sets out an ambition for every Belfast child to grow up safe, healthy and supported, whatever their circumstances or where they live.
A separate city-wide strategy, “The Belfast Child: Seamless Pathway for Children and Families”, was published earlier this year. Belfast Health and Social Care Trust developed it alongside Belfast City Council and the Belfast Community Planning Partnership.
Source: Belfast Live
