“Article 31” is the article of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that assures to every child and young person the right to play, to rest and recreation, and to participate in cultural life and the arts. Although it is a generally accepted principle that there can be no hierarchy of human rights and all are of equal importance, Article 31 has gained an unfortunate reputation as one of the most comprehensively ignored, infringed and misunderstood of all children’s rights.
Fortunately for Northern Ireland’s children, this situation may be about to change. On 1st February 2013 a global campaign led by the International Play Association: Promoting the child’s right to play (IPA) achieved a goal it had worked towards for five years, when the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in session in Geneva formally adopted a General Comment on Article 31. General Comments are the mechanism the UN Committee uses to provide authoritative guidance and instructions, not to individual governments (which it does through its review of periodic reports) but to all the governments of the world. The issuing of a General Comment is thus a sign that the world’s highest authority on children’s rights considers the violation of the right to play to be one of the most significant concerns to be addressed at a global level, and that this message must go directly to all the world’s governments.
One of the critical sources of evidence that convinced the UN Committee to prioritise the long-neglected Article 31 was the “Report of the IPA Global Consultation on Children’s Right to Play”. This document, which identifies hundreds of significant violations of the right to play and categorises them under fourteen major headings, was compiled and edited by QUB Centre for Children’s Rights researcher Harry Shier, who had earlier done pioneering work supporting child coffee workers in Nicaragua in a campaign to defend their right to play.
The Centre for Children’s Rights, along with the Northern Ireland Children’s Commissioner, OFMDFM and the International Play Association, will be supporting a seminar organised by Playboard Northern Ireland in Belfast on 17th April, thus launching a process to determine how the global message of the UN General Comment can be made a reality for Northern Irish Children.
More information from Harry Shier: hshier01 (at) qub.ac.uk
For Flyer for event on 17th April click here.
To RSVP for event lisa.oconnor (at) play.board.co.uk or phone 02890 803380