By Dr Carmel Corrigan
FIRST, I want to wish you all a very happy 2026. Following a period off-island, I am delighted to be back in Jersey and planning for the year ahead. A new year always brings a fresh sense of perspective, and after some challenging times for the office last year, we are now looking ahead to what we plan and hope to achieve in 2026.
We have, of course, much ongoing work, including research, and continue to create opportunities for children and young people to have their opinions heard, as well as providing policy and legislative advice, operating our various advisory panels and providing information and advice on children and young people’s rights. Not all of this work takes place in the public domain – some of it happens more quietly, behind the scenes – but it all shares the same simple purpose: to ensure that the rights of children and young people in Jersey are upheld.
One of the things that I am particularly looking forward to this year is re-engaging with our international partners across Europe through the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC). This network provides substantial opportunities for learning from 43 independent human rights institutions in 34 countries, from Azerbaijan to Ireland, Moldova to Finland. Being an active participant in this network is an important part of my office’s work, and while it was not possible in 2025 due to resource limitations, ENOC’s work programme and events are firmly back on the calendar for this year. Listening to, and learning from, other ombudspersons and commissioners is invaluable for us and, of course, the conversation goes both ways, serving as a valuable reminder to those representatives from other countries of the work that Jersey continues to do in progressing children’s human rights.
ENOC has produced some influential work over the years on a range of topics, including the rights of children in care, corporal punishment, the impact of Covid-19 on children’s rights, and children’s rights and physical health. In fact, one key piece of work that ENOC completed in 2023 was a policy position on strengthening and promoting independent children’s rights institutions, including the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for Jersey.
Being a part of this international community feels more important than ever as we, like many others, are entering into 2026 with an element of worry about global affairs. So far, we have seen the US military action against Venezuela, serious incidents in Iran, threats against Greenland, an increasingly negative narrative about migrants and those labelled as “others” or “lesser”, especially in the aftermath of the fatal shooting by US immigration agents in Minneapolis, not to mention the disturbing issues now surfacing around Grok deep fakes on the X platform. While many of these seem very far from our day-to-day life, the reality is that each of these issues underpins the importance of human rights as a safeguard against public and private actions that would have us believe that only some people have rights. It is a further uncomfortable and unfortunate reality that many of those who will be most affected by these actions, and the anti-rights narrative that accompanies them, will be children and young people. They rarely have power, influence or a voice in these debates, yet they live with the consequences.
More locally, the picture in Jersey looks comparatively rosy. At the end of 2025, we saw the government review of educational provision for children with special educational needs or disabilities gain the necessary political commitment for investment and action to address the issues that were identified, as well as a detailed improvement plan for children’s social care services. The Government of Jersey has also launched its new play strategy and work is starting on planning the delivery of this. Each of these relates to an array of children’s rights and strategic priorities for our office – educational inequalities, care, play and leisure – as well as overarching principles, including non-discrimination and participation.
However, Jersey cannot become complacent about the promotion and protection of its children’s rights. Unfortunately, I have been party to conversations here with decision-makers at all levels about how children’s rights have “gone too far” and are “out of control”. Too often, this is accompanied by complaints about how administratively burdensome it is to ensure that children’s rights are upheld or how they do not need to be considered separately because “we all know about them”. I have even heard the view that children now have too many rights and that adult control over them has been weakened too much. This all, again, feeds into the narrative that only some people have rights, and that the rights of adults, which we all take for granted to the point of not even being aware of them, are somehow of greater significance.
The strength of the anti-rights narrative varies across countries and is a greater challenge for our colleagues in some European countries than others. We have seen moves in certain places to roll back children’s rights, and the resultant weakening of independent human rights offices through different means, including reduction in funding, absorption into central governments or political appointments to key positions. Whatever the means, the result is the same: weaker support for, and increased invisibility of, children; a lack of contemporary research and knowledge; and limited independent oversight of the actions of public and private bodies.
As uncertainty and division appear to be growing in many parts of the world, and as human rights are increasingly framed as belonging only to “us” and not to “others”, my hope is that Jersey will continue to prove itself a stalwart defender of children and young people’s rights. That commitment must be practical, visible and sustained – not just in principle, but in everyday decision-making. It means standing firm when those rights are challenged, and remembering who they exist to protect. It means all children, all rights, always.
