1. Legal institutions for the rights of the child
The main mandate of the legal institutions for the rights of the child is to promote the rights of the child through knowledge dissemination as children need special attention and protection to ensure their rights. Advocating for the rights of the children should be evidence-based and inclusion of awareness-raising. Following legal institution for the rights of the child plays a think-tank role in their respective nation, regional and international commitment toward the protection of the rights of the child.
- Department of Child Law, Leiden University is a knowledge centre dedicated to academic research and education for both students and professionals in the field of child law and children’s rights. The Department of Child Law accommodates the Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory, which is an open access online database on international children’s rights jurisprudence, focusing on the decisions of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communication Procedure. Furthermore, the Department of Child Law conducts scientific research projects for governments, international organisations, including UNICEF, the Council of Europe and different institutions, including the Dutch children’s ombudsperson. For more information, please refer https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/law/institute-of-private-law/child-law
- Center for Child Law of Law Faculty at the University of Pretoria was held in October 1998 and contributes towards establishing and promoting the best interests of children in our community through education, research, advocacy and litigation. The Centre’s mission is to work towards the development of child law and the realization of children’s rights in South Africa, within a regional and international context. For more information, please refer https://centreforchildlaw.co.za/about/
2. Legal programs and training for rights of the Child
If you are a novice to child law and the rights of the child and willing to learn about the rights of the children, following online courses will help you to meet your needs of learning. The great advantage of the online course is complete to course your own pace and time.
- Online courses
| Course title | Organizers | About Course | Scope of the teaching | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child Protection: Children’s Rights in Theory and Practice | Harvard University | Learn how to protect children from violence, exploitation, and neglect through law, policy, and practice in a human rights framework. | 1. The origins of child protection in international human rights law; 2. How to analyze global child protection issues and the diversity of actors involved in child protection; 3. The impact of violence, exploitation, and abuse on children’s emotional, social and physical development and strategies for preventing and responding to these harms; 4. The standards of protection for children in conflict or in contact with the law; 5. How to assess and strengthen a child protection system | Payment: Course is free of charge (optional to take certificate by 100USD) |
| Child Right Programming E-learning | Save the Children | This Child Rights Programming (CRP) e-learning course is a free and the course will instruct on how to carry out Child Rights Programming and how to be a rights-based organisation. | 1. Introduction to CRP, 2. How to apply CRP, 3. Challenges faced and practical guidance, and 4. How to be a rights-based organization. | Payment: Free of charge Duration: 2.5 hours |
| Keeping children and vulnerable people safe | Childsafe | Objective of the course is to provide basic training on key issues relating to care and safety of children and vulnerable people at personal level in a community organizational and institutional context | • The need to keep children and vulnerable people safe • Personal and organisationsal child safety management • The issues of abuse and responding appropriately to incidents and suspected malicious behaviors • How to support the rights of children and vulnerable people and crease a safe environment for all | Fee is 38.50 AUD Course duration: 85 min |
| Children’s Human Rights – An Interdisciplinary Introduction | University of Geneva (Coursera.org) | In this course the participants will explore critical issues concerning the rights of children from a multidisciplinary approach. Participants will gain insight relative to the development of this specific human rights category, as well as to the evolution of the challenges faced by children over time and society’s efforts to respond. Successful international strategies and programs promoting children’s rights will be highlighted, as well as the role of key actors involved in international organizations working in this field. | • International standards and monitoring systems • The history of children’s rights in the context of human rights • Interdisciplinary Children’s Rights Studies • Juvenile justice | Payment: Free of charge Duration: 2-4 hours |
| Keeping Children Safe Online | National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (UK) | Developed by the NSPCC in association with CEOP, the child protection unit of the National Crime Agency, this e-learning course will help you to understand what children and young people do online, why they take risks and how to respond to these risks so you can feel confident in protecting the children you work with. | • how children use the internet and technology • the risks children take online • harmful content online • online radicalization and extremism • sharing and sexting • sexual offending against children online • bullying online • supporting parents and careers • supporting children and young people • how to make organisations safer places for children to go online. | Payment: 35GBP Duration: 4 hours online course |
| National Children’s Advocacy Center | National Children’s Advocacy Center offers variety of online training courses related to child protective services, administration, interviewing, law enforcement, legal, medication, mental health, prevention, victim advocate, and wellness of children. Highly recommended to see the list of the trainings and webinars they are offering! |
- Classroom and face to face training programs
Classroom-based courses give you learning and travelling opportunity plus interaction with other participants and learn from their experience of various countries and issues. Here are the classroom-based training courses on the rights of the children which organized on an annual basis.
| Course title | Organiser | Course description | Scope of the teaching | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontiers of Children’s Right | Leiden University, Hague | Frontiers of Children’s Rights provides a comprehensive children’s rights course, which takes a close look at contemporary children’s rights issues from a legal perspective accompanied by reflections from other academic disciplines, legal systems, local perceptions and realities. Themes include: juvenile justice, alternative care, protection and participation of children in (armed) conflict, emerging global issues and children’s rights and digital technologies. | 1. International Children’ Rights: Achievements and Challenges; 2. International Children’s Rights: Achievements and Challenges; 3. Children in Alternative Care and Institutions; 4. Implementing the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children; 5. Digital Technologies & Children’s Rights: Privacy and Online Profiling; 6. Juvenile Justice: from Theory to Practice; 7. Children’s Rights and Migration Trafficking and Other Forms of Exploitation of Children; 8. Children’s Rights and Business Principles; 9. Professor of Children’s Rights in the Developing World; 10. Addressing the Needs of Children Affected by Conflict | Payment: 950 Euro Duration: 5 days |
| Child Protection | University of Kent, UK | In this Child Protection course offered by University of Kent, the emphasis will be on looking at how to protect children in families and on social media. Throughout the course the students will have the opportunity to work in groups and to use the CPD accredited interactive child protection simulations to develop their learning and promote discussion. The Child Protection Summer School is part of the University of Kent Summer School programme. It will allow you to make lasting connections with students from around the world, studying a range of subjects but sharing your own enthusiasm. International study will enable you to gain a deeper understanding of another culture, make lifelong friends from a wide variety of backgrounds and benefit from globally-renowned academic excellence | Courses included: 1. Neglect 2. Emotional abuse 3. Working with children and young people 4. Online and face to face grooming 5. Child Sexual Exploitation 6. Radicalisation 7. Child Trafficking and families on the move across Europe | Payment: 1650 GBP Duration: 2 weeks |
| International Summer Course on the Rights of the Child | Universite de Moncton | Since 2012, the International Summer Course on the Rights of the Child has provided a unique opportunity for professionals to advance the children’s rights agenda and to strengthen and expand expertise. Available to any person and/or professional with an intentional interest in children’s rights, the summer course helps to strengthen national capacities to defend the rights of all children. This has been made evident by the growing participation of institutional actors such as child and youth advocates, lawyers, professionals in the fields of health, education, early childhood studies, and social work, and many others. In addition to a learning event it is a wonderful occasion for network development and collaboration. | Course scope various depending on the selected team of the year. For 2020, the Right to Education: Access to post-secondary education and the transition to the workforce | |
| Bachelor of Science in Child Protection and Juvenile Justice | Bellevue University | The Child Protection and Juvenile Justice accelerated cohort program develops the skills and knowledge base needed for a career in working with at risk children, juveniles, and their families. Areas of study include assessment, intervention, negotiation, victimology, and psychological disorders that affect children and adolescents. The juvenile justice system is introduced, with a focus on legal concepts and procedures. The complexity and diversity of working with families in relation to community resources is emphasized | • The juvenile justice system and corrections • Legal concepts and courtroom procedures • Various roles involved in protecting and representing children and juveniles • Victimology and psychological disorders affecting children and adolescents • The complexity and diversity of family dynamics • Support systems in place in the community | Payment:425 USD in class or online |
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3. Legal Clinics for children
Many law schools have legal clinics to provide their students with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in real cases through researching, drafting legal arguments and meeting with clients. Those clinics are mostly managed by law school professors and offer pro-bono services to clients in need. In recent years, law schools are opening specialized legal clinics in coordination with schools of respective disciplines to motivate their students to specialized in respective areas including child rights and human rights. Following universities are running legal clinics for the rights of the child.
- Child Law Clinic by University College Cork, Ireland
https://www.ucc.ie/en/childlawclinic/
According to the American Bar Association, in the total following, 64 universities have child dedicated law clinics.
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens-rights/directory/legal-clinics/
- Child and Family Law Clinic
University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Arizona - Civil Clinic
University of Arkansas School of Law, Arkansas - Center for Children’s Rights
Whittier Law School, California - Center for Juvenile Law and Policy
Loyola Law School, California - Children’s Advocacy Institute
University of San Diego School of Law, California - Children’s Legal Issues Clinic
University of Southern California Law School, California - Disability Rights Legal Center
Loyola Law School, California - Juvenile Law Clinic
University of Colorado School of Law, Colorado - Advocacy for Children and Youth Clinic
Yale Law School, Connecticut - Center for Children’s Advocacy, Inc.
University of Connecticut School of Law, Connecticut - Criminal Justice Clinic
American University, Washington College of Law, Washington, Dc - Juvenile and Special Education Law Clinic
University of the District of Columbia, Washington, Dc - Juvenile Justice Clinic
Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, Dc - Children and Families Clinic
Barry University, Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law, Florida - Children and Families Clinic
Shepard Broad Law Center, Nova Southeastern University, Florida - Children and Youth Law Clinic
University of Miami School of Law, Florida - Children’s Advocacy Center
Florida State University College of Law, Florida - Center on Children and Families
University of Florida, Levin College of Law, Florida - Juvenile Justice Center
Barry University, Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law, Florida - Children & Family Justice Center
Northwestern University, School of Law, Illinois - Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic
University of Chicago Law School, Illinois - Loyola Civitas Childlaw Clinic
Loyola University of Chicago, Illinois - Valparaiso University School of Law Clinic, Indiana
- Viola J. Taliaferro Family and Children Mediation Clinic
Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Indiana - Middleton Center for Children’s Rights
Drake Law School, Iowa - Children and Family Law Center
Washburn University School of Law, Kansas - Juvenile Litigation Clinic
Tulane University Law School, Louisiana - Juvenile Justice Program, Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic
University of Maine School of Law, Maine - Child Advocacy Clinic
University of Baltimore School of Law, Maryland - Child Advocacy Program
Harvard University Law School, Massachusetts - Juvenile Justice Center and Child Advocacy Clinic
Suffolk University Law School, Massachusetts - Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project
Boston College Law School, Massachusetts - Child Advocacy Law Clinic, Juvenile Justice Clinic, Pediatric Advocacy Clinic
University of Michigan Law School, Michigan - Child Advocacy Clinic
Hamlin University School of Law, Minnesota - Children’s Law Clinics
University of Minnesota Law School, Minnesota - Family & Children’s Law Center
Mississippi College of Law, Mississippi - Child Advocacy Clinic
University of Mississippi School of Law, Mississippi - Children’s Rights Clinic
Washington University School of Law, Missouri - Civil Clinical Law Program
University of Nebraska College of Law, Nebraska - Thomas and Mack Legal Clinic
University of Nevada, William S. Boyd School of Law, Nevada - Children’s Law Clinics
Rutgers School of Law-Camden, New Jersey - Children’s Law Clinics
Rutgers School of Law-Newark, New Jersey - Juvenile Justice Clinic
Seton Hall University School of Law, New Jersey - Center for Children, Families and The Law
Hofstra University School of Law, New York - Child Advocacy Clinic
Columbia Law School, New York - Child Advocacy Clinic
John’s University School of Law, New York - Children’s Law Clinics
New York University School of Law, New York - Children’s Rights Clinic
Syracuse University College of Law, New York - Children’s Law Clinic
Duke University Law School, North Carolina - Family and Youth Law Center
Capital University Law School, Ohio - Justice for Children Project
Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Ohio - Child & Family Advocacy Clinic
Willamette University, Oregon - Children’s Advocacy Clinic
Penn State University, Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania - Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic
University of Pennsylvania Law School, Pennsylvania - Education Law Practicum & Youth Justice
University of Tennessee College of Law, Tennessee - Child and Family Litigation Clinic
University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Tennessee - Children’s Law Clinics
University of Texas At Austin School of Law, Texas - W. Caruth, Jr. Child Advocacy Clinic
Smu Dedman School of Law, Texas - Child Advocacy Clinic
University of Virginia School of Law, Virginia - Children’s Law Clinics
University of Richmond, Virginia - Children & Youth Advocacy Clinic
University of Washington School of Law, Washington - The Child & Family Advocacy Clinic
West Virginia University College of Law, West Virginia - University of Wyoming Legal Services Program, Wyoming