Canadian Children's Rights Council

Infobox Organization
name = Canadian Children's Rights Council


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formation = 1991
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type = non-profit organization
headquarters = Toronto, Canada
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membership = 2,000
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num_staff = 28
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The Canadian Children's Rights Council is a nongovernmental organization committed to children's rights based in Toronto, Ontario Canada. As a nonprofit educational and advocacy organization, it is dedicated to supporting the rights and responsibilities of Canadian children and providing critical analysis of governments' policies at all levels of government in Canada. [ [http://www.canadiancrc.com/About_Us.aspx "About Us"] , Canadian Children's Rights Council. Retrieved 4/1/08.]

Activities

Providing current news on Canadian children's rights issues, the organization reportedly has 28 staff and more than 2,000 members. Other activities include lobbying governments and the United Nations, providing training or education on child rights, and researching child rights. [ [http://www.crin.org/organisations/viewOrg.asp?ID=2168 "Canadian Children's Rights Council"] . Children's Rights Information Network. Retrieved 4/2/08.]

The Canadian Children's Rights Council website is a "Virtual Library" of child rights issues, books, position statements of various child rights groups throughout Canada, historic documents and content regarding all aspects of child rights in Canada.

For example, their website have a complete section with all legislative transcripts regarding, Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act ( YCJA ) containing all briefs presented to the legislative federal committees of the Parliament of Canada before passage of the bill into law with full background information. [ [http://www.canadiancrc.com/Youth_Criminal_Justice_Canada.aspx "Canadian Children's Rights Council"] . Youth Criminal Justice in Canada.]

Positions

On Canada's "Child Day", November 20th, 2007, in a CTV television network interview broadcast nationally, the Canadian Children's Rights Council's president stated his support for a national children's commissioner and corresponding provincial/territorial commissioners in Canada to guide the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in the domestic laws of Canada.

He also said that provisions in the Criminal Code of Canada already provides a defence of "diminished responsibility" for mental illness that is used by the defence in cases involving postpartum depression. The position of the elimination of the Criminal Code of Canada offence of "infanticide" is consistent with that provide by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, The Law Reform Commission of Canada and numerous other law reform organizations in Canada, the Law Reform Commission of Australia and that of the Butler Commission in the UK. [ [http://www.canadiancrc.com/killing_children.aspx "Infanticide - United Nations position statement.] Retrieved 4/24/08.] . The position states that a baby's life is not worth less than that of any other person and therefore should not be a separate criminal code offence with a lesser automatic penalty of a maximum of 2 years in jail for the murder of a baby by his or her mother. In fact, the sentence, upon conviction is usually not actually jail time, rather "time served in the community" meaning , no jail time.

In 1998, before the federal Special Joint Committee on Custody and Access, ( a committee of both Members of the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada ) he called for punitive penalties for parents who repeatedly disobey court ordered parenting time schedules. His position became a recommendation by the Special Joint Committee and is cited in the committee's report "For the Sake of the Children" on page 46

References

External links

* [http://b.hatena.ne.jp/entry/8056012 Article about the Canadian Children's Rights Council]