Keynote Speaker: Gillian Calvert

Gillian Calvert is the first NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People.

The Commission is an independent body reporting directly to Parliament and aims to make NSW a better place for children and young people. As Commissioner, Gillian acts as a bridge between children and government, business and local communities so that kids have a voice in decisions that affect them. She champions issues that are important to kids to improve their lives and circumstances.

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Sixteen years after the UN General Assembly's unanimous adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is not clear that children's rights are being respected more than they were - in some places, children seem to enjoy fewer rights now than they did in 1989.

There are probably many contributing factors to this:

• children themselves have little concept of "rights" and rarely approach issues in their lives from a rights perspective

• legislation, public policy and professional practice have many disparate drivers, and a UN Convention can seem a low priority in comparison

• major cultural and systemic change is not easy and practical ways to further rights are not always apparent

• a rights approach is most effective in a legal framework, but children live their lives largely through relationships, which are mediated only marginally by the law

• increasing numbers of adults have no children and are not interested in children.

Simply asserting children's rights is not enough. Genuine change in children's lives is more likely when advocates are strategic about the opportunities and methods they use to promote children's rights.

This presentation will canvass some advocacy strategies that have furthered children's rights leading to improved outcomes for children and young people.It identifies the factors that have contributed to this success, including:

• involving children and young people in shaping and implementing solutions

• developing and using networks of adults who can influence the critical decision makers

• offering practical and achievable solutions to overcome barriers

• seeing legislative change not as an end in itself, but as an enabling tool

• planning for long term advocacy work using strategic alliances

• using the media and other communications channels creatively and positively for change.