PRESS RELEASE

20 May 2010

Bill of Rights could strengthen the rights of children

The coalition Government's full agreement, published today, announces a Commission to investigate a British Bill of Rights which would build on all of the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Children’s Rights Alliance for England welcomes this as an opportunity to consider how the Human Rights Act has improved children’s lives and to agree additional protection for children and others. We have long campaigned for the Convention on the Rights of the Child to be part of UK law. The UK agreed to follow this UN treaty in 1991: it gives children the right to an adequate standard of living, to the highest possible standard of health, and prioritises the importance of taking into account children’s views and having the child’s best interests at the heart of all actions concerning them. The Convention is strong on supporting parents and family life and gives much-needed safeguards when children are in contact with the police, courts, prison and immigration services.  We have formed a UK-wide coalition with many others who feel strongly about making the Convention part of UK law, to work together to try and persuade Parliament to take action.

Carolyne Willow, CRAE’s national co-ordinator says:

‘British politicians must take this opportunity to fully safeguard the rights of children and to protect childhood from growing inequality and social intolerance.’

CRAE will be pressing the new Commission to consider the rights and freedoms contained in other international treaties, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which grants disabled people of all ages a comprehensive set of rights. The UK ratified this treaty in June 2009.
 
The coalition agreement sets out international development priorities which include a ‘focus on the rights of women, children and disabled people to access services’. Carolyne Willow adds:

‘We will remain vigilant and strongly resist any dilution of the Human Rights Act, which has brought essential protection for children in a variety of situations. However, the Human Rights Act was never designed to deliver children the scope and strength of rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Convention sets the international benchmark of human rights protection for children and this is what British politicians must now aspire to. The Liberal Democrats election manifesto promised the Convention would be made part of UK law, so we are optimistic that this process could bring real change for children’.

The UN body monitoring children’s rights has repeatedly urged the UK to make the Convention on the Rights of the Child part of UK law, and Parliament’s own human rights select committee has stated there is a ‘strong case’ for making particular provision for children in a future Bill of Rights. In March this year, the Ministry of Justice published the responses it received on the former Government's public consultation on a Bill of Rights. This said there was ‘most support for including rights relating to children and children’s wellbeing’.   

More information: 07949 434 787.

1. The Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) seeks the full implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was ratified by the UK with cross-party support in December 1991. We are one of the largest children's rights coalitions in the world and our membership includes all the main children's charities in England. CRAE is a co-founder of Rights of the Child UK (ROCK), a UK-wide coalition of organisations and individuals calling for the Convention to be made part of UK law.
2. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international human rights treaty which British civil servants and children’s rights advocates helped to draft. It includes the right to an adequate standard of living; to education that helps children meet their full human potential; the right to healthcare and family support; children’s right to express their views freely and have them taken into account in all matters affecting them; the right to play; and the right to protection from all forms of violence. All children and young people up to the age of 18 years are protected by the rights and freedoms in the Convention. Some groups – for example those living away from home, young disabled people and child refugees.
3. Only two eligible countries in the world have not yet ratified the Convention: Somalia and the US. This makes it the second most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world.