Child Rights Impact Assessment
A four-step approach to ensuring the best outcomes for children when designing laws, regulations and policies
Aim of the Child Rights Impact Assessment
Children have rights. These rights are set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) is a tool designed to help you keep children’s rights at the forefront at all times when creating new laws, regulations and/or policies. The aim of a CRIA is to safeguard children’s development and well-being in all proposals that affect them. Ultimately, we want all laws, regulations and policies to result in the best possible outcomes for children.
The Child Rights Impact Assessment consists of four main steps, which are outlined below. More information about the different steps can be found by clicking on the various links throughout the text.
Preliminary Check
The Preliminary Check is designed to help you answer the question:
Could the proposal you’re working on affect children’s development or well-being, and therefore on their rights?
Please note: This should be interpreted as broadly as possible. Your proposal may affect children indirectly (through their parents, for example) or only in the long run.
- 1 The child’s identity
- 2 Preservation of the family environment and maintaining relations
- 3 Care, protection and safety of the child
- 4 The child’s right to healthondheid
- 5 Situations of vulnerability
- 6 The child’s right to education
- 7 The child’s right to express their views
- 8 ...
- 1 The child’s identity
- 2 Preservation of the family environment and maintaining relations
- 3 Care, protection and safety of the child
- 4 The child’s right to health
- 5 Situations of vulnerability
- 6 The child’s right to education
- 7 The child’s right to express their views
- 8 ...
Results of the Preliminary Check
If your proposal does not affect the interests of children in the short term or the long term, either directly or indirectly (such as through their parents), the assessment stops here. If your proposal does have the potential to affect children’s interests, you must proceed with the full assessment.
The steps of the assessment
The Child Rights Impact Assessment consists of four steps. During these steps, you will carefully analyse the potential impact of your bill or policy proposal on children’s rights. Throughout this process, the interests of children should take precedence.
1
Identify children’s interests
In the first step, you will identify any children’s interests that are at stake. You will start by conducting a more in-depth analysis of the elements from the Preliminary Check, gathering information from a variety of sources. You will also seek input from the children affected by your proposal. Actively involving them in the assessment ensures that their rights and interests are adequately represented.
2
Identify other interests
In addition to children’s rights, there are often other interests at stake. This second step consists of identifying these interests to see how they conflict or align with the interests of children.
3
Assess the various interests
The third step is to evaluate the relative importance of the various interests. The interests of children must always take precedence. You will consider how to balance children’s interests and the other interests you identified in Step 2.
4
Accountability and communication
Based on your conclusions from the previous step, you may need to make changes to your bill or policy proposal. In this final step, you will make the necessary changes and provide a full, transparent account of your decisions.
Step 1
Identify children’s interests
In this step, you will identify any children’s interests that are at stake. This will give you insight into how your proposal could affect children’s rights, whether positively or negatively. To do so, you will first evaluate the potential impact on children’s interests yourself (Step 1A), then seek additional input from children (Step 1B).
Key questions:
- How will this proposal affect children’s well-being and development, either directly or indirectly (such as through their parents)?
- How can we safeguard children’s interests as effectively as possible in this proposal?
1A
Identify children’s interests
Identify which children’s interests are at stake based on the seven elements you considered during the Preliminary Check. This step is essentially a more in-depth version of the Preliminary Check. In addition to the seven elements, consider the rights set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Impact Matrix can help you with this step.
Consider how your proposal could affect children and identify their interests within that context. For example, your proposal might have implications for all children in the European and/or Caribbean Netherlands, or it might only affect a specific group of children. Within the group of children who will be affected by your proposal, identify any children in vulnerable positions or children who could be put at risk by the proposal.
Make sure to consider the consequences and impact of the proposal in both the short term and the long term.
There are various resources you can use for your evaluation.
1B
Talk to children
Engage in conversations with children about your proposal or project. Use your findings from your evaluation of children’s interests in Step 1A as a starting point. Think carefully about who you want to talk to and the best way to handle the conversation. What do you hope to achieve with your proposal? How do children feel about it? Do they see any potential obstacles or solutions?
Remember to follow the guidelines for child participation.
Step 2
Identify other interests
In this step, you will identify other relevant interests. These interests may have already been identified as part of the standard process of developing laws, regulations and policies, through tools like the Beleidskompas (‘Policy Compass’, available in Dutch only).
Step 3
Assess the various interests
Weigh the various interests against one another. During this step, you will evaluate the relative importance of the various interests at stake.
Please note: The interests of children carry more weight and must take precedence over other interests.
Step 4
Accountability and communication
In this step, you will communicate the results of the Child Rights Impact Assessment. Include your findings from Steps 1, 2 and 3. Describe which children’s interests are at stake and explain how they will be taken into account in your proposal. If applicable, explain which changes were necessary to ensure that children’s rights receive top priority.
Attach this information to your proposal in an explanatory note. Use clear, simple language that is easy for the public to understand. Make sure to also share your results with the children who participated.
