There are many rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child that are not in the European Convention on the Rights of the Child, and therefore not protected by UK law. These include, for example, the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to the best possible health care, the right to play, children's right to have their views given due weight in all matters affecting them, the right to protection from all forms of violence and the right to maintain contact with both parents (unless this is not in the child's best interests). The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that children only ever be brought to court or given a custodial sentence as a very last resort – essential rights not protected by the Human Rights Act.

In October 2002, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the UK ‘incorporate into domestic law the rights, principles and provisions of the Convention to ensure compliance of all legislation with the Convention’.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Primary Care and Public Health support making the Convention on the Rights of the Child part of UK law, as do the major children's charities in England.

Last summer the Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he wants Britain to have a Bill of Rights. We are in discussions with Ministers and civil servants to try and ensure children's rights are properly included in this.

CRAE's national co-ordinator gave oral evidence earlier this year to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.

We are undertaking research on developments across Europe and will be holding a seminar on the Bill of Rights and children in the autumn. Contact Katy Swaine