IFPA Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

June 2006

Submission on Ireland’s Second Periodic Report on the Rights of the Child.

General Comment No. 4 (2003) ‘Adolescent health and development in the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child’ bolsters Article 5 of the UNCRC in relation to the exercise and enjoyment of the rights contained in the Convention which should be exercised progressively by children and young people ‘according to their evolving capacities’.

Underpinning this submission is the proposition that the legal and social framework as it exists in Ireland completely fails to recognise or respect this ‘evolving capacity’ as it relates to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

This results in consistent breaches of young people’s civil rights and freedoms through a lack of access to appropriate information on family planning and sexual health and a lack of access to dedicated adolescent sexual health services. Children and young people are not specifically protected in the Irish Constitution resulting in social and educational services that fail to prioritise and safeguard their rights, particularly where there is a conflict between the rights of the child and the views of their parents or guardians.

Download Submission: