The Children and Youth Programme - A Rights-Based Approach to Monitoring Children and Young People's Well-Being

This Foundation Report is the first in a Special Report Series addressing the well-being of children and youth in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Report corresponds with three key UNESCO aims: to strengthen awareness of human rights; to act as a catalyst for regional and national action in human rights; and to foster co-operation with a range of stakeholders and networks working with, or on behalf of, children and youth. Key messages from this report. 1. Human rights and the well-being of children and young people are interconnected concepts and should not be considered in isolation. 2. A human-rights based monitoring programme on the well-being of children and young people can add value in the following ways: legitimacy through an internationally accepted child rights framework; greater accountability by a joint focus on duty bearers and rights holders; the voice of children and young people on their well-being and enjoyment of their rights; and universality through a focus on marginalised children and young people. 3. Adopting a rights-based approach to monitoring the well-being of children and young people should be systematic in its approach and can include the following steps: i. identification of what is to be monitored; ii. specification of the relevant rights; iii. connection of the rights to stated government outcomes; iv. identification of government actions to implement these rights; v. measurement of progress to track improvements.