Children’s right to fair and equal treatment 

In October 2008, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed the UK Government’s Equality Bill and called on the Government to use the Bill to ‘to mainstream children’s right to non-discrimination into the UK anti-discrimination law’.[1] Yet, the Government’s Equality Bill – currently going through Parliament, explicitly excludes children from new legal protection from age discrimination in goods and services, whilst simultaneously extending this protection to adults.

Over the last two years, CRAE has gathered evidence of systematic and widespread age discrimination against children and young people in a range of public and private settings[2]. We have found disturbing evidence of older children being denied mental health treatment and being refused care from social services on the basis of their age. Children are frequently restricted from entering shops and restaurants, unfairly refused entry to museums, art galleries and leisure centres and we have essentially constructed “no-go” zones in many of our public spaces by using curfews, dispersal orders and the mosquito device to stop teenagers from congregating in public spaces. Despite this evidence – the Government is still refusing to extend age discrimination measures to children.

Last week, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) called for children to be fully included in the Equality Bill and said that protection from unfair age discrimination muct be extended to children. The JCHR said “the total absence of protection against age discrimination for those under 18 in service provision… means that children who are subject to unjustified discrimination are left with little or no legal protection. This may prevent children enjoying full protection of their rights as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child”.[3]

Carla Garnelas, CRAE’s senior policy and change officer commented “The Government could transform the lives of children in England by extending legal protection from age discrimination in goods, facilities and services in the same way that it is proposing to do for over 18s. We are not saying that the Government must treat all people the same – we still think that age specific services can, and must continue, where they can be justified – as they will for adults.  But we are calling on the Government to address unfair discrimination where it exists.

By excluding children from these measures in the Equality Bill, the Government is sending a message that it does not value children in society. Parents have repeatedly told us about the negative impact that age discrimination has on their children and their whole families but the Government is not listening. We are calling on Government to prove that it places a high value on the UK’s children and fully include them in the Equality Bill.”

[1] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2008) Concluding Observations on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. CRC/C/GBR/CO/4 paragraph 24-25

[2] CRAE (2009) Making the case: why children should be protected from age discrimination and how it can be done. Proposals for the Equality Bill

[3] Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, 26^th report in Session 2008-9, ‘Legislative Scrutiny: Equality Bill, published on 13 November 2009