ASC and Save the Children recently organized a regional learning session on child rights and SOGIESC. The activity aimed to foster dialogue between LGBTIQ and child rights advocates, to identify the common points between child rights and LGBTIQ advocacy, and to generate recommendations for collaborative actions.
This activity is one of the steps done by ASC to mainstream SOGIESC issues within key human rights issues relevant to the region. Ryan Silverio, Regional Coordinator of ASC said, "the principle of intersectionality is at the core of our work, it drives us to learn the perspectives and practices of diverse social justice movements, it inspires us to build synergies".
Hope Tura, the Child Rights Governance Manager of Save the Children said, "We cannot be compartmentalized: we cannot operate in silos when it comes to advancing human rights... if we learn to work together and find ways where our work can complement, it can elevate our advocacy to a higher level".
The activity resulted to some recommendations how LGBTIQ groups and child rights groups can work together. A key theme among the recommendations was to mainstream child rights within LGBTIQ activism, and vice-versa. Some of the suggested joint actions include the following:
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Collect case studies relating to LGBTIQ or gender non-conforming children;
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Provide staff training on intersex and transgender issues for child rights organizations;
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Provide spaces for sharing knwoledge about LGBTIQ issues to child rights groups, and vice-versa;
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Find entry points within society to mainstream LGBTIQ and children's issues, such as professional organizations and other important social institutions.
The summary report of the regional learning session may be downloaded here: CRC SOGIE Summary Discussion
