Swansea has been flying the flag for children’s rights.
The flag of Dilly the Dragon, the city’s children’s rights mascot, was flown outside the Civic Centre to celebrate International Children’s Rights Day.
Friday November 20 is also the first anniversary of the official launch of the council’s Children and Young People’s Rights Scheme after it became the first city in the UK to sign up to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
Cllr Christine Richards, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Children & Young People, said: “We are delighted to be part of the international celebrations for Children’s Rights Day.
“Educating children, safeguarding and building sustainable communities are among this Council’s top priorities and developing children’s rights contributes toward this.
“That’s why Swansea was the first UK council to decide to impose further legal duties on itself to consider children’s rights in everything we do, why we have a Children’s and Young People’s Rights scheme and why we give such importance to children’s rights in all our work.”
The convention sets out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities.
As part of that 84% of Swansea schools have been supported by the local authority to become UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools.
Children’s rights have become embedded throughout school life and used to help children and young people to become involved in everything from choosing activities and uniform to resolving classroom conflict and connecting with other children worldwide.
The approach is helping to improve pupil’s attitudes, self-esteem, and motivation as well as resulting in improved attendance, attitude to school and learning outcomes too.
As well as flying the Dilly flag, the Council’s Children and Young People’s team arranged for a series of UNCRC videos created by schools about rights and rights within their school to be played on loop on the big BBC screen in Castle Gardens all day.
Schools across the city also had their own celebrations and shared their event or rights journey using the hash tag #dillyswansea or #dillyabertawe
Help keep news FREE for our readers
Supporting your local community newspaper/online news outlet is crucial now more than ever. If you believe in independent journalism, then consider making a valuable contribution by making a one-time or monthly donation. We operate in rural areas where providing unbiased news can be challenging. Read More About Supporting The West Wales Chronicle
