Unicef Rights Respecting Schools ‘gold’ award.

[whatnow41]

Does anyone know much about this award and where it or UNICEF sit within the trans debate?

If my school were to begin getting gold accreditation, and so far show no signs of capture, is this something I should be concerned about?

All I've found so far is the below:

Achieving Gold: Rights Respecting means there is evidence that:
• Your school has explicitly adopted a child rights approach based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Childd* and has embedded it in school policy, practice and culture.
• Children, young people and adults in your school have a thorough understanding of child rights, and rights respecting attitudes and language are embedded across the school.
• RRSA has had a positive impact on children and young people’s learning and wellbeing.
• Students see themselves as rights respecting global citizens and are advocates for social justice, fairness and children’s rights at home and abroad.

The last time I had a really good look, as our school did this (not my personal thing though) I didn't see anything in the actual list of rights respecting. Identity was more around the child's home and family, their country or country of origin, language etc.

I haven't looked recently though.

It's all based on this:

www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/01/Summary-of-the-UNCRC.pdf

*article 7 (birth registration, name, nationality, care)
Every child has the right to be registered at birth, to have a name and nationality, and, as far as possible, to know and be cared for by their parents.

article 8 (protection and preservation of identity)
Every child has the right to an identity. Governments must respect and protect that right, and prevent the child’s name, nationality or family relationships from being changed unlawfully.*

The problem may arise as what people recognise as the word identity in this context, evolves...

Article 36 (other forms of exploitation) Governments must protect children
from all other forms of exploitation, for example the exploitation of children for political activities, by the media or for medical research.

The larger document:

Article 7

1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.
2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.

Article 8

1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.

1. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.

Article 29

1. States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

(a) The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential; (b) The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations; (c) The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own; (d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin; (e) The development of respect for the natural environment

The word gender isn't used once in the whole document.

Sex appears a few times:

Recognizing that the United Nations has, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenants on Human Rights, proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,

Not sure what other status means.

Good spot bear.

That looks really promising. My child's school is a rights respecting school. So far no sign of woke agenda but they have taken my child's complaints of sexism very seriously.

From memory unicef has reworded the UNCRC replacing sex with gender.

That really would be a shame Aesopfable.

The rights of the child was written in 1989, children in those days didn’t know anything about gender identity. No one in 1989 thought it was a thing that had any implications for children.

Had a look through their schools materials and it seems a mix of sex and gender across all their materials including within the same document.

In the implementation handbook for the UNCRC, 'gender identity' has been added to article 8 (about the child's identity):

Name, nationality and family are only some elements of identity. Other aspects of identity include:
- the child’s physical appearance, abilities, gender identity and sexual orientation.

The implementation handbook was co-authored by Peter Newell, who was jailed in 2018 for the historic rape of a 13-year-old boy.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5399247/UNICEF-kids-rights-campaigner-jailed-rape-boy-13.html

Thanks so much for all the replies, I'll remain cautiously observant on this one then. My school are just talking about going for this and I'm just a little concerned.

No other signs of woke capture, except for their equal opportunities policy stating gender instead of sex. I didn't hold it against them though, as it also stated the wrong school name, so was very obviously a cut and paste job without real intention.

What a surprise oldcrone.

Thanks for posting that. Bookmarking.

States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.

This one, my brain gets stuck on. In the context of a parent self-identifying as the opposite sex - or even with a GRC in light of the Freddy Whatsisface case - this would surely mean it's against the rules for schools etc to insist a child refers to their mother as their father?