On Friday, February 8, the Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, Jillian Van Turnhout addressed the AEJ. Ms Turnhout is also a member of the European Economic and Social Committee, an institutional consultative body established by the 1957 Treaty of Rome. (see www.eesc.europa.eu).
In her address she outlined the goals and activities of the Alliance which is a coalition of 80 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the area of children’s rights and welfare in Ireland. The Alliance aims to secure the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Ireland.
At the end of January, the Alliance made a major submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children (see www.childrensrights.ie)
Ms Turnhout told the AEJ that she does not favour the holding of the vote on the Lisbon Treaty on the same day as the children’s referendum.