Unclassified Pledge Content

This is content that hasn't been classified into CRC articles or expressed in "Rights Language"

1. Recognising that there are practical limitations on the scheduling of educational opportunities, and also for determining average levels of how children make use of those opportunities (eg the cost of operating a school for 13 years of a child’s life is more than for 9 years) but there is no reason to compel a child to attend at a particular day or time, or for a particular cumulative time
2. For freedom of expression + freedom of association ? While acknowledging that upholding the rule of law is fundamental to the protection of human rights and a democratic way of life, nevertheless recognizing that laws themselves, as well as other practices established and maintained by inter alia professional practice, tradition, and vested interests (including but limited to political and corporate interests) exercising “an invisible hand”, may be prejudicial and may reinforce discrimination against historically marginalized groups; and
   • also that there may be legitimate reasons for encouraging, but not imposing, participation in education (such as encouraging school attendance and reducing drop outs) that this must not be employed as a tactic to silence dissent; and
   • moreover that civil disobedience in withdrawing from organized educational activities is a legitimate expression of rights and must not be penalized by imposed sanctions,

   commit to support Children in exercising their freedom of expression and freedom of association in engaging in peaceful protests against prejudicial and discriminatory laws and practices

3. Something about not imposing arbitrary limits on fashion choices / bodily autonomy under Freedom of Expression
4. Something about freedom to eat, drink, rest, use the toilet, use menstrual hygiene products, etc. whenever necessary
5. About right to rest, leisure, play and participating in cultural life
6. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, not even in the name of education, development, or ‘progress’. Dignity must be prioritised at all times. It is important to note that being subjected to even ‘mild’ corporal punishments and humiliations, inescapable immersion in incompatible sensory environments, deprivation of free play, deprivation of freedom of movement, deprivation of freedom to meet the needs of the body, the imagination, and the growth of the mind’s uniqueness, as well as pressure to behave in neuronormative or culturally dominant ways can all be experienced as torturous and undignifying.
7. Every person, regardless of age, has the right to be treated by default as the first and most credible authority on their own Best Interests. Where a young person and their parent or guardian ostensibly agree on that young person’s educational Best Interests, this must only be overridden by a properly constituted court of law that follows all necessary due process including genuinely confidential consultation with the young person concerned, as well as public consultation with experts who demonstrably specialise in understanding any specific pertinent educational choices. Young people of all ages have the right to contest their parent or guardian’s interpretation of their educational Best Interests and there should be safe and confidential ways made easily accessible to achieve this in so far as practically possible.
8. Examinations, other access procedures for further education and training, and professional certification processes must be open for all to attempt, by right, in so far as practically viable, regardless of the path of preparation taken by the person seeking access or certification. Professional certification must be open to achieve on the basis of proof of skill and ability rather than excluding those with less capacity for formal test-taking. Assessment criteria should in so far as practically possible aim to actively support access for typically excluded communities rather than entrenching gate keeping that works against people marginalised by age, neurotype, cultural heritage, relative poverty and other systemic biases. Oral literacy, ear reading, touch reading and all other ways of accessing and expressing information must be treated as valid ways to access information and demonstrate competence, and must be accommodated as far as is practically possible
9. Add to the civil disobedience section? principled civil disobedience must be clearly distinguished from ordinary criminal offence, and punitive measures against young people, families, communities, providers and facilitators must be considered to be politically motivated, unjust and indefensible. Where disagreement arises, young people and their families have a right to recourse to mediation and conflict resolutions based on multipartiality and transformative justice rather than being subjected to punitive disciplinary justice.