The Children’s Rights Alliance unites over 140 organisations working together to make Ireland one of the best places in the world to be a child. We improve the lives of children by ensuring that children’s rights are protected in Irish law, policy and practice. We achieve ground-breaking changes by: • Identifying problems for children and acting as a watchdog • Raising awareness of children’s rights • Ensuring our government, legislators and policy makers put children first • Achieving better outcomes for children through law, policy and practice reforms The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides rules and minimum standards for the State on how children should be treated. Ireland signed up to the Convention in 1992. We use the Convention as a guide to make Ireland a safer, fairer and just society for children. We succeeded in winning a constitutional referendum on children’s rights. We are proud of that achievement but we still have a long way to go in this country. Still in Ireland today: • 1 in every 5 children is still at risk of poverty • There are over 40,000 child protection referrals per year • 1 in 10 children experience serious mental health difficulties Behind the headline statistics are children and young people who are left behind, in situations of neglect and abuse or who are simply ignored. Children are especially vulnerable because they depend on others to care for them, to listen to them and to speak on their behalf. Our job is to stand up for children and to build a national movement for their rights. Charity Registration Number: 20031909