Children’s Rights Committee
 Committee Report February, 2003

The major activities of the Children’s Rights Committee continue to be directed toward advancing children’s rights, education and development and advancing the reputation, influence and contributions of school psychology and ISPA in children’s rights work. Progress during 2002 and projections for the future are described here as they relate to projects, activities, and membership or relationships with cooperating organizations. Italics are used at some points in the report to highlight ISPA involvement.

NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Members of the ISPA Children’s Rights Committee have continued to represent ISPA at the NGO Group meetings and in related activities. The NGO Group, which recently restructured itself to be free standing, has determined that it will make further changes to broaden and strengthen its leadership, consultation, facilitation and advocacy functions. It continues to be the most respected and influential formally structured international non-governmental organization working closely with the United Nations and its agencies and with national governmental and non-governmental organizations to advance children’s rights. It has invited the Child Rights Caucus organization (see next item) and its members to join the NGO Group to achieve an even stronger, more representative international network of NGO cooperation to advance children’s rights. The Child Rights Caucus by vote of its members present at United Nations Special Session for Children (UNSSFC) agreed to move progressively in this direction and to achieve integration in the NGO Group within one year. To assist in this transition, the NGO Group has begun accepting national NGOs as well as international NGOs as members.
ISPA is the only psychological association member of the NGO Group and is frequently relied on to bring its specialist knowledge and expertise to the assembly’s business. ISPA’s participation in the NGO Group is clearly respected by NGO Group members. During the ongoing process of restructuring the NGO Group to its full recognition and legal status according to Swiss law and the newly begun process to expand the NGO Group through inclusion of the Child Rights Caucus, ISPA representative Lukas Scherer has been and is actively involved as a member of the board of the NGO Group (the “Coordinating Committee”). Another major ongoing process is the legal employment of the two officers of the NGO group, Denise Allen (key-note lecturer in 1999 the ISPA Colloquium in Switzerland) and Laura Theytaz-Bergman. These two professional Human Rights and Children’s Rights experts have become increasingly more available for cooperation and support in international and national efforts to implement children’s rights standards. More information about the NGO Group will be found on the the CRIN website (http://www.crin.org/NGOGroupforCRC).

Lukas Scherer is the Co-Chair of the NGO Group’s Sub-Group on Education, Literacy and the Media. As such he helps set the Sub-Group’s agenda, chair its meetings, and develop and provide its reports. The major goals and activities of the Sub-Group during the period covered by this report have been: further cooperation with the Human Rights Commission (meetings start every year in January) and active involvement in its resolution on the right to education; preparing a first meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to education for professional cooperation in all matters related with education; being a supportive organization for future follow-up conferences on children’s rights in education; preparation and submission to the 2001 Theme Day of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of a position paper on “Violence Against Children in the Family and School” in which ISPA is specifically identified as a resource for cooperation and technical assistance (see attachment), and preparation to assist in the UN’s planned 2 year study of violence against children (see section below).
Stuart Hart was one of the primary representatives of the NGO Group to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children (New York, May 8-10, 2002) and was its representative to the 2nd and 3rd UN Preparatory Meetings for the Special Session during 2001 (see further comments below). This has made it possible for ISPA to be represented in the Special Session processes under the auspices of the NGO Group. At the NGO Group’s April 2002 meeting he was asked assist the NGO Group in developing its membership growth design.  He has also been selected to be a member of the NGO Advisory Panel for the UN International Study on Violence Against Children.

 
CHILD RIGHTS CAUCUS: The Child Rights Caucus, composed of over 100 child oriented international and national NGOs, was created early in 2000 to serve as an NGO lobby group pressing for a strong rights-based approach to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children. It subsequently became the main NGO caucus at the preparatory meetings for the Special Session, using an email network to enable NGOs world-wide to participate in the negotiations and operating as a focal point for NGO lobbying. The Caucus has been seen by NGOs, governments and the UN as an effective and well-organized grouping which has made a significant contribution to the development of the negotiations and enhanced NGO participation in the process (above material taken from a recent Caucus communication). ISPA is a member of the Caucus and is represented by Stuart Hart. This has brought ISPA and school psychology to the attention of Caucus members and has made it possible to garner Caucus support to encourage the drafters of outcome document for the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children to include support for improved educational conditions, including child-rights based education, and for child-rights education preparation of community and education professionals. During the UNSSFC period (May 2002) meetings of the Caucus its members voted to (a) move the Caucus to become an integral part of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child within one year’s time, and, during this next year, (b) to devote its energies and resources to encouraging the development and implementation of good national plans intended to fulfill and exceed the child rights commitments of UNGASS as laid out in “A World Fit for Children.” The Caucus has pursued these objectives during the remainder of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, providing opportunities for ISPA to advise and participate in its initiatives.

ECOSOC Consultative Status:
Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of United Nations is strongly desirable for ISPA. This official status gives ISPA access to the United Nations and its meetings and it increases significantly the credibility of ISPA in working with international agencies and organizations. Application for ECOSOC Status has been completed and submitted by ISPA through the work of its Executive Committee and Children’s Rights Committee. The application was to have been reviewed early in the summer of 2002. Recent communications (December 2002) with the United Nations have indicated that the process has taken longer than predicted, that the ISPA application is still in review, and that the review should come to a conclusion shortly. The United Nations has not indicated that any problems or weaknesses have been found in the application. It is reasonable to assume that when ISPA achieves consultative status more opportunities and expectations will be forthcoming for ISPA. Stronger involvement in United Nations meetings in New York and Geneva will be necessary to meet these opportunities and expectations. This is one of the best ways for ISPA to contribute its knowledge and expertise to advance the conditions of children and education worldwide and to establish respect for School Psychology at the international policy level. To fulfill these potentials, once ECOSOC Status has been achieved, ISPA will be asked to provide additional financial support to the activities of the Children’s Rights Committee.

United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children (UNGASS – also labeled UNSSFC) and the “A World Fit for Children” (WFFC):
Stuart Hart was selected by the NGO Group to be one of its primary representatives to the United Nations General Assembly Special and has been its representative to the 2nd and 3rd UN Preparatory Meetings for the Special Session during 2001 and the UN Special Session held in New York 8-10 May 2002 (see further comments below). This has made it possible for ISPA to be represented in the Special Session processes under the auspices of the NGO Group. Additionally, ISPA was a sponsor of an UNGASS celebration-reception for international children’s rights leaders (attendees included ISPA President Peg Dawson and both the chairperson and rapporteur of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child) hosted by Cynthia Price Cohen and Stuart Hart in New York.
ISPA’s existence, purposes, work and value have been communicated in numerous ways during the formal and informal meetings of the Special Session Preparatory Meetings and meetings during the Special Session. Networking opportunities with international organizations were plentiful and exercised. Through involvement in the Special Session and because of prior work in the related areas, ISPA’s representative chaired a major working session and made a panel presentation during the 2nd Preparatory Meeting, both by invitation; and he was asked to and did introduce and facilitate a major workshop on education for the Global Network of Religions for Children conference that followed the UN General Assembly Special Session.
UNGASS produced an outcome document “A World Fit for Children” (WFFC) setting expectations for advancing the life conditions and treatment of children in all major contexts throughout the world. The document can be accessed easily on either of the following two websites (www.crin.org and www.unhchr.ch). Beginning on page 15 of the document will be found the major section on education, “Providing quality education.” This and other sections of WFFC provide many challenges and opportunities for school psychology to make contributions toward improving the accessibility and quality of education. During this year, 2003, nations will be expected to develop action plans to meet the goals of WFFC. ISPA, its affiliates and members should carefully review WFFC to develop plans to encourage governmental, NGO and individual contributions toward WFFC goals.  

Children as Partners (CAP) Project and ISPA’ Relationship with the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD, University of Victoria): The Children as Partners project (coordinated by the International Institute for Child Rights and Development of the University of Victoria) will build on and implement the mandate for child participation - particularly for the child’s right to be heard as established in article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It hopes to organize, critique, contribute to and make accessible the evolving international knowledge base for child participation. In cooperation with international NGOs and agencies, it will facilitate international, regional and national capacity building to apply that knowledge base and specifically make all its associated resources available for incorporation in supportive interpretive guides (e.g., General Comment for CRC article 12) to advance meaningful child participation through partnerships in culturally respectful and sustainable ways. CAP organized two related programs during the Summer of 2002 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, to take the project forward: (1) a Foundational Partners Retreat to establish partnerships and a shared vision between and among appropriate international agencies and organizations interested in working with the IICRD to cooperatively design and carry out the project; and (2) an Experts Seminar to help identify project goal and design essentials through exploring the experiences and perspectives of child participation experts from around the world relevant to best practices, issues and needs (targeted emphasis on critical health, education and protection themes) and through reviewing early findings from the IICRD’s evolving research on child participation knowledge. UNICEF, UNESCO, World Vision International, Plan International, the International SAVE the Children Alliance, the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Canadian International Development Agency all took part. ISPA, as an already recognized IICRD partner in relevant projects of the IICRD (e.g., the 2nd International Conference on Children’s Rights in Education), was invited to be a foundational partner in the CAP project. Both Stuart Hart and Lukas Scherer, at no expense to ISPA, represented ISPA at the CAP Foundational Partners Retreat, 10-12 August 2002. Stuart Hart helped develop, facilitate and present the CAP Experts Seminar that followed immediately after the Foundational Partners Retreat, August 14-16, and which involved international experts, adults and children/youth, in exploring the state of knowledge and best practices for child/youth participation across a wide variety of issues. ISPA’s representation at the Retreat and Seminar helped to underline the importance of involving international societies of professionals serving children in the CAP project. The proceedings for the CAP Seminar can be found online at the website of the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (www.uvic.ca/iicrd). ISPA should have the opportunity to participate in the fuller development of this project and its applications, giving emphasis to the roles and contributions of child-serving professionals and their organizations. A meeting of Foundational Partners is tentatively scheduled for May in London, to be hosted by International Save the Children.

Child Rights Education for Professionals Initiative: Child Rights Education for Professionals is a program intended to strengthen the ability of professionals working with and for children to improve the development and quality of life of children. It is to achieve this goal by advancing understanding and appreciation of children’s human rights and through fostering application of children’s rights knowledge to theory, research, principles, policies, and practices. It is to be offered through a wide range of distributive education systems (e.g., distance-electronic, hard copy print, face-to-face programs) to both practicing professionals and those preparing for professional life. The program will be developed, managed and offered by a consortium of centers for higher learning, and professional associations throughout the world, and coordinated by the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada). ISPA continues to be one of the primary cooperating organizational members in this distance-learning project. A project partnership has now been formed by ISPA, Education International, the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, and the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Royal Academy of Paediatrics and Child Health to develop and offer child-rights education to their professions at preparatory and continuing education levels through distance-learning Internet-accessed modules, as well as through a variety of other distributive channels. The International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates has recently shown interest in joining the partnership. Stuart Hart (ISPA Children’s Rights Committee Chairperson, now working with the University of Victoria, and Gerison Lansdown, a widely respected international expert and consultant on children’s Rights based in London, are co-directors of the project. A prospectus for funding proposals is nearly completed and should be should be submitted to potential supporters in March. ISPA is expected to provide in-kind support and consultant expertise, and to take a primary responsibility for assuring the project’s relevance for school psychologists, but not financial support.

International Study of Violence Against Children (UNICEF, WHO and the UNHCHR Office): The UN General Assembly has requested (A/Res56/138) that the Secretary General conduct an in-depth study of violence against children. This is viewed by knowledgeable NGOs as a unique opportunity to expose the extent of the problem and identify safeguards to better ensure protection of children from violence. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child proposed the study following its two general discussion days on violence against children in 2000 and 2001.
UNICEF, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, and more than 30 NGOs joined together in April 2002 to issue a position paper outlining several essential elements for the study:
· Basing the study on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the recommendations of the Committee;
· Appointment of an independent expert;
· Establishment of an independent secretariat;
· Meaningful participation by children;
· Involvement of NGOs.
Possible levels and forms of involvement are being identified for interested NGOs. Among the options is the opportunity to participate in the Sub-group on Violence and Children, a newly established subgroup of The NGO Group on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The subgroup will work to engage NGOs in the preparation and follow-up to the study, to engage the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other UN mechanisms on violence against children, and to seek ways to ensure that commitments made related to violence against children at the UN Special Session on Children are fulfilled. The subgroup is coordinated by Melanie Gow, World Vision International (melanie_gow@wvi.org), and Jo Becker, Human Rights Watch (beckerj@hrw.org). ISPA has a representative on the subgroup, Stuart Hart, chairperson for the ISPA Children’s Rights Committee. The subgroup has proposed that a small advisory group be established to advise on all aspects of the establishment of the Study, provide the UN’s independent expert and study secretariat for the project with input on the study's content, process and outcomes, encourage and facilitate broad and effective NGO involvement in the study, and help mobilize effective follow-up to the study.
Lukas Scherer and Stuart Hart participated in an April 2002 meeting of NGOs, UNICEF, WHO, and the OHCHR on the topic of the envisioned study. Those assembled were informed that ISPA, working with Education International, might be helpful in the study as it focuses on school environments and that ISPA’s cross-national research on children’s rights project has produced data relevance to children’s fears about their physical and psychological safety in homes and schools. Stuart Hart has been selected to be a member of the NGO Advisory Panel for the project. The United Nations Secretary General has named Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro of Brazil as the Independent Expert to oversee the Study. It is hoped that the NGO Advisory Panel will be able to work closely with him. ISPA’s involvement, through its representative, Stuart Hart, is expected to require approximately 2 face-to-face meetings in Geneva or New York, as well as substantial consultation through distance communication. A report on the further development of the study design and implications/possibilities for ISPA, ISPA affiliates, and school psychologists will be provided to the ISPA in the late spring or early summer of 2003 to the EC and through the World-Go-Round.

ISPA Cross-National Children’s Rights Research: The May 2001 edition of School Psychology International was devoted as a special issue to the ISPA Cross-National Children’s Rights Research Project. During the ISPA 2001 Colloquium in Dinan (France) Stuart Hart presented a special issue of the School Psychology International journal, devoted to the results of the first international sweep of the study which involved much work done in more than 20 countries around the world. Zoran Pavlovic presented a set of the modified questionnaires to be used in the next major international sweep.
A funding prospectus expert consulted by Zoran Pavlovic and Stuart Hart has suggested that the projected group of researchers for the next sweep establish a consortium and be given a name to identify the project/consortium. In Dinan, a number of friends of the project were consulted. Some of them knew they would be going on with the study on children's rights, some of them were not sure, some of them knew they would not.
The name proposed for the project/consortium is CRISP - Children's Rights International Study Project. CRISP will initially be supported by the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana (Slovenia), that Zoran Pavlovic became a director to in September 2001, and also by the International Institute for Child Rights and Development, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, of which Stuart Hart is now Deputy Director. It is hoped that ISPA will continue to be associated with the study it initiated and has given strong support to for so long a period.
At the 2002 ISPA Colloquium, CRISP provided two presentations and a workshop for national research team leaders to discuss experiences with the new round of the study. The surveys carried out with the new instruments seem to be providing good and interesting results. A solid case can be constructed from the early work on the second sweep for the promotion of the Study. Some major international organizations have expressed certain interest in the Study, but it is too early to name them. Zoran Pavlovic will facilitate the CRISP program at the Colloquium. Zoran Pavlovic intends to provide one or more update presentations to the ISPA summer 2003 colloquium in China and to meet there with present and potential collaborators on the research.

Stuart Hart, Chair

Children’s Rights Committee Committee Report and Future Projection, June 2002

The major activities of the Children’s Rights Committee have continue to be directed toward advancing children’s rights, education and development and advancing the reputation, influence and contributions of school psychology and ISPA in children’s rights work. Progress during the last 11 months and projections for the future are described here as they relate to projects, activities, and membership or relationships with cooperating organizations. The report ends with a budget projection/request for the year 2003. Italics are used at some points in the report to highlight ISPA involvement.

NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Members of the ISPA Children’s Rights Committee have continued to represent ISPA at the NGO Group meetings and in related activities. The NGO Group, which recently restructured itself to be free standing, has determined that it will make further changes to broaden and strengthen its leadership, consultation, facilitation and advocacy functions. It continues to be the most respected and influential formally structured international non-governmental organization working closely with the United Nations and its agencies and with national governmental and non-governmental organizations to advance children’s rights. It has invited the Child Rights Caucus organization (see next item) and its members to join the NGO Group to achieve an even stronger, more representative international network of NGO cooperation to advance children’s rights. The Child Rights Caucus by vote of its members present at UNGASS agreed to move progressively in this direction and to achieve integration in the NGO Group within one year. To assist in this transition, the NGO Group will begin accepting national NGOs as well as international NGOs as members. 
ISPA is the only psychological association member of the NGO Group and is frequently relied on to bring its specialist knowledge and expertise to the assembly’s business. ISPA’s participation in the NGO Group is clearly respected by NGO Group members. During the ongoing process of restructuring the NGO Group to its full recognition and legal status according to Swiss law and the newly begun process to expand the NGO Group through inclusion of the Child Rights Caucus, ISPA representative Lukas Scherer has been and is actively involved as a member of the board of the NGO Group (the “Coordinating Committee”). Another major ongoing process is the legal employment of the two officers of the NGO group, Denise Allen (key-note lecturer in 1999 the ISPA Colloquium in Switzerland) and Laura Theytaz-Bergman. These two professional Human Rights and Children’s Rights experts will become more available for cooperation and support in international and national efforts to implement children’s rights standards. 
Lukas Scherer is the Co-Chair of the NGO Group’s Sub-Group on Education, Literacy and the Media. As such he sets the Sub-Group’s agenda, chairs its meetings, and develops and provides its reports. The major goals and activities of the Sub-Group during the period covered by this report have been: further cooperation with the Human Rights Commission (meetings will start every year in January) and active involvement in its resolution on the right to education; preparing a first meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to education for professional cooperation in all matters related with education; being a supportive organization for future follow-up conferences on children’s rights in education; preparation and submission to the 2001 Theme Day of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of a position paper on “Violence Against Children in the Family and School” in which ISPA is specifically identified as a resource for cooperation and technical assistance (see attachment), and preparation to assist in the UN’s planned 2 year study of violence against children (see section below). 
Stuart Hart was selected by the NGO Group to be one of its primary representatives to the United Nations General Assembly Special and has been its representative to the 2nd and 3rd UN Preparatory Meetings for the Special Session during 2001 and to the UN Special Session held in New York 8-10 May 2002 (see further comments below). This has made it possible for ISPA to be represented in the Special Session processes under the auspices of the NGO Group. At the NGO Group’s April meeting he was asked assist the NGO Group in developing its membership growth design. 

CHILD RIGHTS CAUCUS: The Child Rights Caucus, composed of over 100 child oriented international and national NGOs, was created early in 2000 to serve as an NGO lobby group pressing for a strong rights-based approach to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children. It subsequently became the main NGO caucus at the preparatory meetings for the Special Session, using an email network to enable NGOs world-wide to participate in the negotiations and operating as a focal point for NGO lobbying. Preliminary evaluation suggests that the Caucus has been seen by NGOs, governments and the UN as an effective and well-organised grouping which made a significant contribution to the development of the negotiations and enhanced NGO participation in the process (above material taken from a recent Caucus communication). ISPA is a member of the Caucus and is represented by Stuart Hart. This has brought ISPA and school psychology to the attention of Caucus members and has made it possible to garner Caucus support to encourage the drafters of outcome document for the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children to include support for improved educational conditions, including child-rights based education, and for child-rights education preparation of community and education professionals. During UNGASS period (May 2002) meetings of the Caucus its members voted to (a) move the Caucus to become an integral part of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child within one year’s time, and, during this next year, (b) to devote its energies and resources to encouraging the development and implementation of good national plans intended to fulfil and exceed the child rights commitments of UNGASS as laid out in “A World Fit for Children.” 

ECOSOC Consultative Status:
Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of United Nations is strongly desirable for ISPA. This official status gives ISPA access to the United Nations and its meetings and it increases significantly the credibility of ISPA in working with international agencies and organizations. Application for ECOSOC Status has been completed and submitted by ISPA through the work of its Executive Committee and Children’s Rights Committee. Recent communication from the United Nations indicates that the application will be reviewed early this summer and that approval, if granted, could occur before the end of the summer after the nearly year-long consideration process required by the UN. No questions or concerns have been communicated thus far in regard to the application. It is reasonable to assume that when ISPA achieves consultative status more opportunities and expectations will be forthcoming for ISPA. Stronger involvement in United Nations meetings in New York and Geneva will be necessary to meet these opportunities and expectations. This is one of the best ways for ISPA to contribute its knowledge and expertise to advance the conditions of children and education worldwide and to establish respect for School Psychology at the international policy level. To fulfill these potentials, once ECOSOC Status has been achieved, ISPA will be asked to provide additional financial support to the activities of the Children’s Rights Committee. 

United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children (UNGASS) and the “A World Fit for Children” (WFFC): 
Stuart Hart was selected by the NGO Group to be one of its primary representatives to the United Nations General Assembly Special and has been its representative to the 2nd and 3rd UN Preparatory Meetings for the Special Session during 2001 and the UN Special Session held in New York 8-10 May 2002 (see further comments below). This has made it possible for ISPA to be represented in the Special Session processes under the auspices of the NGO Group. Additionally, ISPA was a sponsor of an UNGASS celebration-reception for international children’s rights leaders (attendees included ISPA President Peg Dawson and both the chairperson and rapporteur of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child) hosted by Cynthia Price Cohen and Stuart Hart in New York. 
ISPA’s existence, purposes, work and value have been communicated in numerous ways during the formal and informal meetings of the Special Session Preparatory Meetings and meetings during the Special Session. Networking opportunities with international organizations were plentiful and exercised. Through involvement in the Special Session and because of prior work in the related areas, ISPA’s representative chaired a major working session and made a panel presentation during the 2nd Preparatory Meeting, both by invitation; and he was asked to and did introduce and facilitate a major workshop on education for the Global Network of Religions for Children conference that followed the UN General Assembly Special Session. 
UNGASS produced an outcome document “A World Fit for Children” (WFFC) setting expectations for advancing the life conditions and treatment of children in all major contexts throughout the world. The document can be accessed easily on either of the following two websites (www.crin.org and www.unhchr.ch). Beginning on page 15 of the document will be found the major section on education, “Providing quality education.” This and other sections of WFFC provide many challenges and opportunities for school psychology to make contributions toward improving the accessibility and quality of education. During the next year nations will be expected to develop action plans to meet the goals of WFFC. ISPA, its affiliates and members should carefully review WFFC to develop plans to encourage governmental, NGO and individual contributions toward WFFC goals. In this regard, the ISPA Children’s Rights Committee will develop an article for the World-Go-Round highlighting aspects of the WFFC that are particularly relevant for school psychology intervention internationally, nationally, and locally. 

2nd International Conference on Children’s Rights in Education: ISPA was a member of the primary group of cooperating organizations for the 2nd International Conference on Children’s Rights in Education (University of Victoria, British Columbia, August 18-22, 2001). ISPA was represented in the planning committee and during the conference by Stuart Hart, who was co-chair for the conference. The following description of the conference is taken from its proceedings.

The recent 2nd International Conference on Children’s Rights in Education hosted approximately 150 child - centered international policy makers. This assembly of experts discussed the implications and implementation of children’s rights to guide educational policy, research and practice. The Conference was presented by the Institute for Child Rights and Development, University of Victoria, in partnership with Child Rights Education International, the NGO Working Group on the CRC, UNESCO, UNICEF, Education International, the International School Psychology Association (marked for attention in this report), the International Bureau of Education, the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, and both the Canadian and Swedish International Development Agencies.
The Conference built on the 1st International Conference on children’s rights in education held in Denmark and initiated to advance respect and support for children's rights and the full development of children through education. The overarching theme of this year’s Conference was “Creating a Culture of Human Rights, Democracy and Peace in the New Millennium”.
An outstanding core of leading international experts made morning plenary session presentations challenging the assembly to apply cutting edge knowledge and visions to advance children’s rights to, in and through education across a full range of protection, development and participation themes. Afternoon streams (working groups) further developed the morning plenary session topics in exploring the challenges of education in addressing issues of working children, children affected by war, violence, abuse and exploitation, and the creation of rights respecting learning communities. Many of the sessions focused on the issues of providing quality education to children in child-centred, culturally relevant ways.
The Conference focused particular attention on the implications of article 29 (aims of education) of the CRC with special regard to article 12 (children’s meaningful participation) and article 28 (provision of education). Presentations and final recommendations were framed by the preparatory document for the UN General Assembly Special Assembly on Children (UNGASS), “The World Fit for Children” and the “General Comment” for article 29, adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
In the concluding remarks both the opportunities and the challenges that exist in the realisation of children’s right to child-centred education were pointed out. While globalisation, growing inequalities, poverty and budget cuts are important threats to children’s well-being there are also some favourable elements, such as a number of supportive international documents, indications of commitment from some governments and a growing body of knowledge on what works. Included in the latter is the recognition that issues facing marginalized children are highly complex. Implementing education which is respectful of children’s best interests and human dignity requires recognizing and addressing these complexities. Based on the Conference s’ presentations and discussions a number of recommendations are provided that describe the elements and the context that need to be in place to make children’s rights in education a reality.

The full Conference report can be accessed through the following website of the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (www.uvic.ca/icrd).

Article 29 and the Respectful Learning Communities Initiative: Article 29 (Aims of Education) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is considered to be the clearest statement of the best interests of the child, of the hopes and intentions of the world for child development, within the Convention. Among the supporting evidence for this is the fact that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child selected article 29 as the first article for which an interpretative and guiding General Comment would be developed (find the General Comment for Article 29 as link on www.childrightseducation.org). The development of a project to support implementation of article 29 is under consideration by representatives of ISPA’s Children’s Rights Committee, Education International, UNICEF and UNESCO. It is tentatively titled “TOWARD FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF CRC ARTICLE 29: Human Rights Respecting Learning Communities -- Creating Rights-Based, Child-Friendly Schools” This project is intended to respect the invitation to ISPA of UNESCO leader Kaisa Savolainen (Latvia, 1998) to develop programs to help foster a world of peace. 

Child Rights Education-International and the Child Rights Education of Professionals Initiative:                                                                                ISPA continues to be one of the primary cooperating organizational members in the distance-learning project, Child Rights Education-International (www.childrightseducation.org). A project partnership has now been formed by ISPA, Education International, the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, and the American Academy of Pediatrics to develop and offer child-rights education to their professions at preparatory and continuing education levels through distance-learning Internet-accessed modules. The International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates has recently shown interest in joining the partnership. A prospectus and funding proposals should be produced by October of this year. 

Children as Partners (CAP) Project and ISPA’ Relationship with the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD, University of Victoria): The Children as Partners project (coordinated by the International Institute for Child Rights and Development of the University of Victoria) will build on and implement the mandate for child participation - particularly for the child’s right to be heard as established in article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It will organize, critique, contribute to and make accessible the evolving international knowledge base for child participation. It will facilitate international, regional and national capacity building to apply that knowledge base and specifically make all its associated resources available for incorporation in supportive interpretive guides (e.g., General Comment for CRC article 12) to advance meaningful child participation through partnerships in culturally respectful and sustainable ways. UNICEF, UNESCO, World Vision, the International SAVE the Children Alliance, the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Radda Barnen, Education International and the Canadian International Development Agency have all indicated an interest in being partners in the project. ISPA, as an already recognized IICRD partner in relevant projects of the IICRD (e.g., the 2nd International Conference on Children’s Rights in Education), has been invited to be a foundational partner in the CAP project. Both Stuart Hart and Lukas Scherer, at no expense to ISPA, will represent ISPA at the CAP Foundational Partners Retreat, 10-12 August 2002. The August program, in Victoria, British Columbia, is intended to take the CAP project forward through the following two-stage process: (1) a Foundational Partners Retreat to establish partnerships and a shared vision between and among appropriate international agencies and organizations interested in working with the IICRD to cooperatively design and carry out the project; and (2) an Experts Seminar to help identify project goal and design essentials through exploring the experiences and perspectives of child participation experts from around the world relevant to best practices, issues and needs (targeted emphasis on critical health, education and protection themes) and through reviewing early findings from the IICRD’s evolving research on child participation knowledge. Stuart Hart will represent ISPA at the Experts Seminar. A report of the CAP summer program and its implications and opportunities for ISPA involvement will be sent to the Executive Committee in September. 

International Study of Violence Against Children (UNICEF, WHO and the UNHCHR Office): The UN General Assembly has requested (A/Res56/138) that the Secretary General conduct an in-depth study of violence against children. This is viewed by knowledgeable NGOs as a unique opportunity to expose the extent of the problem and identify safeguards to better ensure protection of children from violence. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child proposed the study following its two general discussion days on violence against children in 2000 and 2001. 
UNICEF, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, and more than 30 NGOs joined together in April 2002 to issue a position paper outlining several essential elements for the study: 
· Basing the study on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the recommendations of the Committee;
· Appointment of an independent expert;
· Establishment of an independent secretariat; 
· Meaningful participation by children;
· Involvement of NGOs. 
Possible levels and forms of involvement are being identified for interested NGOs. Among the options is the opportunity to participate in the Sub-group on Violence and Children, a newly established subgroup of The NGO Group on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The subgroup will work to engage NGOs in the preparation and follow-up to the study, to engage the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other UN mechanisms on violence against children, and to seek ways to ensure that commitments made related to violence against children at the UN Special Session on Children are fulfilled. The subgroup is coordinated by Melanie Gow, World Vision International (melanie_gow@wvi.org), and Jo Becker, Human Rights Watch (beckerj@hrw.org). ISPA has a representative on the subgroup, Stuart Hart, chairperson for the ISPA Children’s Rights Committee. The subgroup has proposed that a small advisory group be established to advise on all aspects of the establishment of the Study, provide the UN’s independent expert and study secretariat for the project with input on the study's content, process and outcomes, encourage and facilitate broad and effective NGO involvement in the study, and help mobilize effective follow-up to the study. 
Lukas Scherer and Stuart Hart participated in an April meeting of NGOs, UNICEF, WHO, and the OHCHR on the topic of the envisioned study. Those assembled were informed that ISPA, working with Education International, might be helpful in the study as it focuses on school environments and that ISPA’s cross-national research on children’s rights project has produced data relevance to children’s fears about their physical and psychological safety in homes and schools. Stuart Hart has offered himself as a candidate for membership in the advisory group (see above) for the project. A report on the further development of the study design and implications/possibilities for ISPA, ISPA affiliate, and school psychologists will be provided to the ISPA EC in the fall. 

ISPA Cross-National Children’s Rights Research: The May 2001 edition of School Psychology International was devoted as a special issue to the ISPA Cross-National Children’s Rights Research Project. During the ISPA 2001 Colloquium in Dinan (France) Stuart Hart presented a special issue of the School Psychology International journal, devoted to the results of the first international sweep of the study which involved much work done in more than 20 countries around the world. Zoran Pavlovic presented a set of the modified questionnaires to be used in the next major international sweep. 
A funding prospectus expert consulted by Zoran Pavlovic and Stuart Hart has suggested that the projected group of researhers for the next sweep establish a consortium and be given a name to identify the project/consortium. In Dinan, a number of friends of the project were consulted. Some of them knew they would be going on with the study on children's rights, some of them were not sure, some of them knew they would not.
The name proposed for the project/consortium is CRISP - Children's Rights International Study Project. CRISP will initially be supported by the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana (Slovenia), that Zoran Pavlovic became a director to in September 2001, and also by the International Institute for Child Rights and Development, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, of which Stuart Hart is now an Executive Officer. It is hoped that ISPA will continue to be associated with the study it initiated and has given strong support to for so long a period. 
At the 2002 ISPA Colloquium CRISP will have two presentation (on Sunday: Bianchessi/Guzzo from 10:30-11:20, and Pavlovic from 11:30-12:20, in room 3) and a workshop for national research team leaders (Sunday afternoon, 16:00-18:00, room 5) to discuss experiences with the new round of the study. The surveys carried out with the new instruments seem to be providing good and interesting results. A solid case can be constructed from the early work on the second sweep for the promotion of the Study. Some major international organizations have expressed certain interest in the Study, but it is too early to name them. Zoran Pavlovic will facilitate the CRISP program at the Colloquium. This report will be updated following the Colloquium.