Appendix 1: Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) tool template Stage 1: Screening Question 1: Describe the issue being addressed and the overall aim of the policy/ legislation. Some policies/legislation have more than one issue impacting on children’s rights. Where this occurs, it may be beneficial to screen each issue independently, rather than attempting to explore all issues together. Question 2: Using the checklist below, identify whether children’s rights are likely to be advanced or restricted by the policy/legislation. All the rights included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are necessary to the basic development of a child. No one right is given more importance than any other. They function as integrated components. While individual rights are identified in this section, they may impact all aspects of a child’s or family’s life. A direct impact on children’s rights refers to policy/legislation that explicitly impacts on a child’s life. For example: • If the policy/legislation changes how children and families access school and early childhood education (i.e. COVID-19 school closures), the right to education is impacted. • If the policy/legislation results in the redevelopment of community and recreational spaces (i.e. replacing parks with commercial office spaces), the right to rest and leisure is impacted. • If the policy/legislation results in the collection of personal information that relates to children, the right to privacy is likely to be engaged. An indirect impact on children’s rights occurs where policy/legislation predominantly impacts on those other than children, but children are impacted as a consequence. For example: • If the policy/legislation impacts the ability of a parent to care for their child (i.e. mandatory sentencing), the best interests of that child must be considered as their wellbeing will be impacted as a result. • If the policy/legislation impacts on parental access to social or economic benefits, a number of children’s rights may be impacted as a consequence of their parent being unable to afford basic necessities. Refer to the CRC or Appendix 4 to add more rights, if impacted. 30 |