Four-year plan for children's rights set out

Children's commissioner Carmel Corrigan has set out her priorities for the next four years

The children's commissioner has set out her priorities for supporting young people in Jersey over the next four years.

In the 2024-2027 strategic plan issued on Monday, Carmel Corrigan said she will prioritise educational inequality, children experiencing poverty, play and leisure, mental health and wellbeing, children in care and those in the youth justice system.

These areas were brought to her attention by 1,400 children and young people who took part in a consultation between April and June.

She said the role of her office was to promote and protect the human rights of children aged under 18 and particular groups of young people under 25, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

'Best job I can'

The children's commissioner works with young people under the age of 25 if they have care experience, have a disability or have been in contact with the youth justice system.

Ms Corrigan, who took up the role in March, said: "My commitment during these first years of my term as children’s commissioner is to keep learning, keep listening and keep working, in order to do the best job I can for Jersey’s children and the young adults under my remit."

She said her office would develop a "detailed implementation plan" related to each of the six priorities.

The plans would identify work needed together with objectives, timeframes, key milestones and groups that would be involved.

Ms Corrigan said more details from the online survey with children and young people would be published in the autumn, along with a child-friendly version of the strategic plan.