Advocacy, Policies and Partnerships for Children's Rights
The programme for advocacy, policies and partnerships for children’s rights consists of three projects:
1. “Policy and Institutional Support Project”
- Past Activities (2004-2006):
- As a response to the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF supported the drafting of reports on action for children in the United Arab Emirates.
- Planned Activities (2007-2009):
UNICEF will provide technical assistance, training, workshops and knowledge networking in order to:
- Monitor trends in child indicators
- Advocate for children
- Complete and implement a National Plan of Action for Children
- Adapting local legislation and policies with the CRC provisions as well as ensuring its implementation
- Prepare reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Plan follow-up of the Committee’s recommendations
UNICEF will also provide technical assistance for UAE to set up a separate, permanent and independent mechanism, such as a national human rights institution or an ombudsman, with the mandate to monitor and evaluate the progress of the implementation of the CRC.
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© Gulf Area Office/Abu Dhabi, 2001 |
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UNICEF honouring HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, "the mother of nation", Wife of Late HH Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan and Head of Women Union, in recognition of her continuous support to children |
2. “CRC Advocacy, Monitoring and Knowledge Base Project”
UNICEF will provide technical assistance, training, workshops, knowledge networking and policy advocacy in order to:
- Install DevInfo and train operators
- Agree upon a core set of country specific indicators for child rights including those needed for reporting to the Committee on the CRC and used in the reporting of MDGs
- Develop mechanisms for monitoring progress on these indicators
- Carry out specific studies and surveys will be promoted in order to continuously update the Situation Analysis of Children
- Raise awareness among policy makers, the private sector and the civil society about child rights and its relevance to UAE.
- Disseminating the principles and provisions of the CRC, the reports to the Committee on the CRC, and the concluding observations of the Committee
- Strengthen the established partnership with media around child rights.
3. “Participation and Partnerships Project”
UNICEF support will include technical assistance, training, workshops, knowledge networking, support to local research, policy advocacy as well as resource leveraging:
- Advocacy for increased opportunities for both adolescent boys and girls to participate in school and community development
- Participation of adolescents in national planning events and regional and sub-regional forums as well as in media will be encouraged
- Capture lessons learned from the children’s parliament in Sharijah and student’s councils secondary education while building on regional experiences
- Media campaigns targeting parents, teachers, decision makers, etc, in order to improve their knowledge, attitudes and practices vis-à-vis adolescents
- Advocacy for adolescent friendly legislation, policies and guidelines
- Partnership building with existing and new partners for leveraging knowledge and resources for children within and outside UAE.
- Awareness raising about child rights issues nationally and internationally.
