Implementing children's rights in British Columbia using the population health framework.

This paper documents an advocacy campaign for children, youth and families in the Capital Health Region of British Columbia using the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) framework while informing policy makers, practitioners, and the general public. The work also represents a practical, local model for implementing this globally recognized and implemented human rights document for children and youth by focusing on the development of stakeholder partnerships, public promotion and child and youth participation. The CRC is the most widely accepted human rights document in history, as of October 2000, 191 from the United Nations' 193 member states have signed and ratified. Data analysis showed that children and youth on the Capital Health Region Steering Committee, and in the larger community, actually engaged in important initiatives implementing CRC principles. These community-based actions are the first in Canada to interpret CRC principles and provisions from the standpoint of child health care providers interested in developing a local model for health promotion within civil society. These partnerships promoting the child rights perspective also provided for institutional advocacy for children and youth to be enhanced in times of fiscal restraint. These results are optimistic and significant, showing that children and youth can actually be engaged as free agents in the discourse on their human rights.