The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) is a publicly funded post, with responsibility for protecting children's rights as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nigel Williams was the Commissioner from its introduction in 2003 until his death in 2006. [1]
In day-to-day operation, the Commissioner is independent and free to determine his/her own priorities according to a number of guiding principles chief of which is a requirement that the rights of the child must be the Commissioner's paramount consideration; but also including, for example, a requirement to have regard to the role of parents. The remit includes the full spectrum of public authorities whose activities affect children and young people – including those operating in the non-devolved field, such as juvenile justice agencies, also to investigate complaints from individuals in particular circumstances. [2]
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covering the interception of communications. It was introduced by the Tony Blair Labour government ostensibly to take account of technological change such as the growth of the Internet and strong encryption.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority is attained earlier under national legislation.
A corporation sole is a legal entity consisting of a single ("sole") incorporated office, occupied by a single ("sole") natural person. This structure allows corporations to pass without interruption from one officeholder to the next, giving positions legal continuity with subsequent officeholders having identical powers and possessions to their predecessors. A corporation sole is one of two types of corporation, the other being a corporation aggregate.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland, is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ireland since 16 November 2015. A referendum on 22 May 2015 amended the Constitution of Ireland to provide that marriage is recognised irrespective of the sex of the partners. The measure was signed into law by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, as the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland on 29 August 2015. The Marriage Act 2015, passed by the Oireachtas on 22 October 2015 and signed into law by the Presidential Commission on 29 October 2015, gave legislative effect to the amendment. Same-sex marriages in Ireland began being recognised from 16 November 2015, and the first marriage ceremonies of same-sex couples in Ireland occurred the following day. Ireland was the eighteenth country in the world and the eleventh in Europe to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide.
Kevin Murphy was an Irish civil servant who served as Ombudsman from 1994 to 2003 and Information Commissioner from 1998 to 2003.
A national human rights institution (NHRI) is an independent state-based institution with the responsibility to broadly protect and promote human rights in a given country. The growth of such bodies has been encouraged by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which has provided advisory and support services, and facilitated access for NHRIs to the United Nations (UN) treaty bodies and other committees. There are over one hundred such institutions, about two-thirds assessed by peer review as compliant with the United Nations standards set out in the Paris Principles. Compliance with the Principles is the basis for accreditation at the UN, which, uniquely for NHRIs, is not conducted directly by a UN body but by a sub-committee of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) called the Sub-Committee on Accreditation. The secretariat to the review process is provided by the National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Section of the OHCHR.
The Children's Commissioner for Wales is responsible for protecting children's rights as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Monica Mary McWilliams is a Northern Irish academic, peace activist, human rights defender and former politician.
The Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland is a post in Scotland whose main task is to promote and safeguard the rights of children and young people. The position, equivalent to the Children's Ombudsman agencies of many other countries, was established by the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2003. The current Commissioner is Nicola Killean.
Nuala Patricia O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan,, is a public figure in Northern Ireland. From 1999 to 2007, she was the first Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. In July 2009, it was announced that she was to be appointed to the House of Lords and she was so appointed in September 2009. In December 2010, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, appointed her as the chairman of its governing authority. She is a columnist with The Irish Catholic.
Nigel Williams may refer to:
Patricia Lewsley-Mooney CBE is an Irish former politician who was the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People from 2007 to 2014. She was previously a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 1998 to 2006.
The Office of theChildren's Commissioner for England is a non-departmental public body in England responsible for promoting and protecting the rights of children as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as other human rights legislation, such as the Human Rights Act 1998. The Children's Commissioner was established under the Children Act 2004 to "represent the views and interests of children", and the office was further strengthened by the Children and Families Act 2014 providing a legal mandate to promote and protect the rights of children. According to the Commissioner's website, the role's purpose is to facilitate long-term improvements for all children, and in particular for the most vulnerable, and involves “being the eyes and ears of children within the system and the country as a whole", as well as acting with political independence from government, children's agencies and the voluntary and private sectors. The Children's Commissioner also has a duty to speak on behalf of all children in the United Kingdom on non-devolved issues, which include immigration, and youth justice in Wales.
The office of the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO), formerly known as the Northern Ireland Ombudsman, was first established in Northern Ireland in 1969. The role of an independent ombudsman was originally created as a response to the Northern Ireland civil rights movement, and complaints of institutional bias and discrimination in the areas of housing and jobs.
The timeline of children's rights in the United Kingdom includes a variety of events that are both political and grassroots in nature.
The Office of the Children's Commissioner was an independent New Zealand Crown entity that was established under the Children's Commissioner Act 2003. Its role has been superseded by Mana Mokopuna - Children and Young People's Commission. OCC's main responsibilities were to protect the rights, health, welfare, and wellbeing of minors under the age of 18 years.
A children's ombudsman, children's commissioner, youth commissioner, child advocate, children's commission, youth ombudsman or equivalent body is a public authority in various countries charged with the protection and promotion of the rights of children and young people, either in society at large, or in specific categories such as children in contact with the care system. The agencies usually have a substantial degree of independence from the executive, the term is often used differently from the original meaning of ombudsman, it is often an umbrella term, often used as a translation convention or national human rights institutions, dealing with individual complaints, intervening with other public authorities, conducting research, and – where their mandate permits them to engage in advocacy – generally promoting children's rights in public policy, law and practice. The first children's commissioner was established in Norway in 1981. The creation of such institutions has been promoted by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, and, from 1990 onwards, by the Council of Europe.
Deborah Glass is an Australian lawyer, who was the Victorian Ombudsman between March 2014 and March 2024, when she was succeeded by Marlo Baragwanath.
Nigel Williams was a British children's rights activist, known for his engagement against child abuse on the internet. In 1995, he founded the Childnet International. In 2003, he was appointed as the first Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, a position he held until his death.