Children’s rights highlighted as part of national Playday celebrations

Organisations across York are celebrating the importance of play in supporting children and young people’s physical and mental health this week on national Playday (3 August).

Play helps children make friends and develop relationships, feel connected to their communities and has an important role in helping them to cope with stress and anxiety, and deal with challenges.

City of York Council is using the celebration day to highlight the importance of children’s rights in supporting them to feel safe and secure.

Organisations across the city are working to help children and young people to understand their rights and to make sure they’re being met.

Cllr Andrew Waller, the council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said: “Understanding their own rights and available support will make young people not only feel safe and valued but also enable them to learn and recognise the rights of others, which will help them to become responsible citizens of the future.

“Over the next few months, we will be working with partners across the city to raise awareness amongst young people and those who work with them. It’s an important part of our work as a Human Rights City and will support our ambition to give all children and young people in York the best start in life.”

A full list of the 54 ‘rights’ outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the child can be found here. They include the right to be safe, the right to learn and develop and the right to be treated equally.

For more information about children’s rights and where a young person can go for help if they feel they, or someone else’s rights aren’t being met, visit www.yor-ok.org.uk/know-your-rights.