Childrens Rights in the UK and International Human Rights - Essay Example

To what extent has developments within international human rights law strengthened the concept of children's rights in the UK Children's Rights in the UK & International Human Rights Children's rights in the UK is closely associated with the development of the legal framework in UK and other European nations and closely associated with international human rights issues (unhchr, 1990). Children may be subject to abuse or other forms of mistreatment if their interests are not protected by some common applicable rights and laws. Children are the most vulnerable in society and their well being should be of primary concern to all governments. Here an exposition is provided on Children's rights in the UK considering differences and comparative legal framework for children's issues in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. The main structure and framework is the UNCRC or the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and this legal framework provides mandatory policies for children's laws highlighting the rights that children should have especially in the UK. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been introduced almost two decades back and delineated a list of laws and mandatory policies related to children that could be applied not just in the UK and other European nations but across the world (crae,2009) . In UK, the convention resulted in greater awareness of children's laws and policies with laws that could be applied to international and national levels. International human rights law now informs all elements of UK strategy and policy as it relates even to children as human rights laws have strengthened the concept of children's rights as well (unhchr, 1990). Childcare professionals and lawyers who work with children must be able to apply the international human rights legal framework in childcare settings and situations so that that the rights of children and young people are well protected. However developments in juvenile justice and public attitudes towards children and young people tend to lack any effective implementation. This seems to be a major concern worldwide as juvenile problems are consistent in all western countries and strong and effective legal framework would be necessary not just to deter young people from engaging in crimes but also to protect them from unnecessary imprisonment and police harassment. The discussion also focuses on safeguarding the rights of children and young people involved in asylum processes and in challenging discriminatory practices. There is also the need for a ban on the physical punishment of children, challenging the Governments' claims that recent legislative changes have dealt with the matter. This is of course controversial as complete ban could according to some increase crimes by children and encourage anti social behavior on the part of young people. Yet it is also now that juvenile laws are misused and many young people are locked up without a valid reason for petty deviant behaviors. This means that justice has to play a major role in protecting the rights and interests of children so that they don't become vulnerable victims to the legal process and suffer from punishment due to their irresponsible behavior. According to the UK Children's Commissioners report to the UNCRC, the emphasis of the government should be on the commitment to work together to make life better for all children in the UK through promoting implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (sccyp, uk children's commissioner report, 2008). There are many issues of common concern and they would cover all aspects of the lives of children. An open and consultative approach involving the active participation of the government and the NGOs could help address the challenges of any government agenda. There are currently 12.4 million children aged 0-19 in England (comprising around 20% of the population of England) and almost one in five are from an ethnic minority group. There have been many plans by the UK government to change the condition and care given to children and this is done by increasing political agenda about children and their welfare with increased investment as the government has Every Child Matters Strategy and Children's Plan(sccyp, uk children's commissioner report, 2008). Most children in the UK are considered to be generally in good health and also tend to feel safe and happy. Children also have primary and secondary school education and want to learn, succeed and make a positive contribution. The concept of criminal responsibility seems to be poorly implemented or understood as a high number of children seem to remain in police custody. Inequality in income, health and education could have an impact on children's rights. Among the flaws are the poor child mental health and the fact that 3.1 million children tend to live in poverty and have poor housing facilities. Moreover a large number of children are affected by domestic violence, parental substance misuse and alcoholism and parental mental health issues. Some of the other problems are drug abuse and alcoholism in children, illicit sex and obesity. Children have reported feeling pressurized by school or commercial marketing(sccyp, uk children's commissioner report, 2008). In Wales the legal basis is slightly different and the UNCRC has been adopted by the Welsh Assembly Government as a principle for policy development for children and young people. Child poverty is quite high in Wales and children's health services are not as well funded. According to a report by the government, 8% of children tend to know their rights as defined by the UNCRC and children are not offered protection from violence despite commitments given by the Welsh Assembly Government and National Assembly for Wales (Thomas and Crowley, 2007). In contrast Northern Ireland has a population of 500,000 children and young people and that is one third of the total population in NI. The conflicts in Northern Ireland have had significant impact on the realization of children's rights under the UNCRC and there have been barriers to the full realization of children's rights and strategic approaches. Although there is no constitutional protection for children's rights in Northern Ireland, there still seems to be room for change and the full provisions and principles of UNCRC could be incorporated into law through the Bill of Rights in Northern Ireland. The children of Northern Ireland continue to face the residues of long term conflict in Northern Ireland and still do not have access to full opportunities in education, healthcare, play due to the trauma of the conflict that may have affected their families. In Scotland there are over a million children and 20% are under 18(sccyp, uk children's commissioner report, 2008). A UK Government report acknowledges that Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate legal systems but asserts that "similar statute and common law principles are applied throughout the UK." (sccyp, uk children's commissioner report, 2008) This statement significantly underestimates the differences between Scottish child law and law of the rest of the UK. In general even if UK law is similar in certain principles and applied to Scotland and Northern Ireland as well, finally the differences will have to be well noted especially with reference to child law in the UK and Scottish education system. Scottish child law has a welfare-based approach and deals with juvenile justice through the children's hearing system. Juvenile justice in Scotland focuses on children's best interests and fewer children in Scotland tend to remain in police custody as the Scottish government is committed to keeping young people away from prisons. Asylum seekers and asylum seeking children get a lot of support from the Scottish government as well although after the age of 16, young people are classed as adults and this could have disadvantages. The Scottish Government has been implementing a dissemination strategy for the UNCRC which includes aspects such as awareness raising and training, and targets children and young people, parents and professionals. Giner (2007) discusses the treatment of asylum seeking families and their children in the UK and highlights governments and public reactions and practices or decisions regarding such asylum seekers. There could be welfare restrictions, prejudice and detention that could in fact have an adverse impact on the inclusive child policy framework as ideally projected by the government to encourage social inclusion of all children even from an ethnic minority so that they can establish their rights and opinions in a democratic society. Asylum seeking children tend to be caught in political conflicts and are handled in accordance with certain legal frameworks such as Section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 which aims at detention of accompanied asylum-seeking children in immigration removal centres and removals (Giner, 2007). The government's attempt to mobilize and include asylum seekers may have met through several obstacles and there is even a greater need to understand and support government's responsibilities to help the inclusion of such children so that they can fully integrate in mainstream society. The government has in recent times decided to review its policies, regulations and standards to upgrade them according to the necessities of asylum seeking families, their children and government's own objectives or goals for asylum seekers as there could be many potentially damaging effects of ignoring children's rights and needs (Giner, 2007). The current asylum framework in the UK seems to be supported by the government though and continue to remain despite the flaws. There are also claims of over protective attitudes of the government towards children especially in matters related to recreation, development and leisure. Alcoholism and drug abuse remain problems even in Scotland so it seems to be a general problem that can have repercussions on children's rights in the UK. The development of international human rights has largely strengthened children's rights in the UK. The Children's Commissioner in the UK are sufficiently independent from the government and have full autonomy however the Commissioner may be directed by the government to undertake specific inquiry. As far as the power and functioning of the Children' Commissioners is concerned, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland Commissioners' report to a government department instead of reporting directly to Parliament(sccyp, uk children's commissioner report, 2008). Moreover, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the respective Governments control the appointment, reappointment and removal of the Commissioner. The independence of the Commissioner could be enhanced if funding is granted directly instead of through a government department. The mandates of the Commissioners are rights based with UNCRC as the framework although five aspects of child well being tends to correspond to the government's 'Every Child Matters' agenda. It is expected that each of the Commissioners in the UK should be able to promote and protect all the rights of children in their own country (James, 2008). The incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law and the increasing reference to the UNCRC by the judiciary are necessary and for children in the UK to fully realize and enjoy their rights, the UNCRC must be incorporated into domestic law so all UNCRC mandates should be integrated within the UK legal framework. The Commissioner for Children and Young people have developed tools for assessing the legal and policy issues that deal with children's rights(sccyp, uk children's commissioner report, 2008). In recent years, policy and decision makers have ensured that children's rights are taken into account considering issues of age equality as children may have certain restrictions related to their age. Impact assessments could be carried out by local bodies that provide services to children and young people although general awareness about issues related to children's rights and the UNCRC in the UK is low among children and young people, parents, professionals and the public. A survey in Scotland suggested that 44% of children had heard of the UNCRC and in England in 2006, a poll found that 13% of children had heard of the UNCRC and a recent survey found only 8% of Welsh children had heard of the Convention (James, 2008). The government's strategy has been on awareness raising and training and targets children and young people as well as parents and professionals. The strategy aims at realizing children's rights and training on children's rights have recently been given by the government to professionals who work with children and young people such as teachers, social workers, health professionals, care workers, police and other security staff. Training in children's rights is aimed to increase understanding of the UNCRC and help them with a rights-based approach (James, 2008). While some progress has been made, training for professionals is not yet comprehensive. Training on children's rights should be given to all professionals working with children and young people, including teachers, social workers, health professionals, care workers, the police, judges, staff in the secure estate and others. In addition, children's rights should form part of training for civil servants. Training should promote awareness and understanding of their work. Children's rights should form an integral part of their initial professional training as well as their continuing professional development. Some of the recommendations as mentioned in the Children's Rights report and that include children's rights impact assessment for policy development that tend to affect children at national and local levels. The UK government is expected to take steps to raise awareness about children's rights in general and the UNCRC convention in particular (sccyp, 2009). The UK government also has to ensure that all individuals working with children and young people who are involved in policy development should receive proper training in children's rights. The nature of funding as allocated to local authorities could deliver a range of services to children and families in education and social care. Allocation of funds will have to be related to agreed outcomes as far as children's rights implementation and children's care or welfare facilities are concerned although the government remains concerned about transparency issues and budgetary analysis. Budget analysis has been recommended to show spending on children and allocation of resources. Allocation of resources could however be based on short term needs although investment in children's well being should be made as children's welfare should be made a priority although this could involve overcoming substantial barriers. The government financial support for children in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland could be compared and there are clear differences in government spending in case of matters related to social care, health and education. However in Northern Ireland, there is combined spending on health and social care that makes it difficult to differentiate between the two areas. Usually it has been recommended that expenditure on children should be based on a range of variables including need, demography, economies of scale etc. Effective spending of public money is considered necessary for the well being of children and young people. A recent UNICEF report on child well-being identifies strong links between government expenditure on children and overall well-being of children. The UK however has a low rate of child well-being than what it should be considering its social expenditure. However, as noted above, the Government is unable to identify exactly how much of this social expenditure is devoted to children. This could be considered as a grave flaw as all expenditure of the government with regard to maintaining or upholding children's rights and children's well being should be well documented and analysed and all overlapping of expenditure should be avoided so that the exact spending on children's issues is clearly demarcated and can be compared and accounted for. As government expenditure and children's well being seem to be related, an increasing number of countries should be encouraged to spend more on children's issues and children's rights. The recommendations provided to the UK government have been not just directed towards assessment of policy development for children's rights but also towards raising awareness of children's issues so that appropriate measures could be taken towards training of personnel or policy analysis and to make children's rights issues more popular and significant. Perera (2008) suggests the implications of democratic society in determining children's rights and human rights in general. According to the paper, the European Convention on Human Rights does not differentiate between adults and children in this respect, but further advances the concept of children's rights and provides supports to such issues. However the case may be different in the UK and other European nations and not in accordance with the Convention on Human Rights as children do have many restrictions placed on their rights and autonomy and are still not completely legally protected as should be in a democratic society. The Convention on human rights tried to bridge the gap between adult and children's rights by not differentiating between the two and by suggesting that children are equally entitled to rights and claims and the same rules, laws and regulations should work for them and their opinions will have to be considered as equally important in a truly participative society. Although very little legal framework and guidance have been presented for managing children under 16 and there are still many anomalies such as children's right to refuse or accept to meet medication or certain educational criteria. There has however been a greater awareness of the rights culture which should consider what the children want and whether it's a decision to stay with a parent or attend a school, children should be given adequate space to take at least some of their decisions and this should be legally protected to ensure that they actually find what they stand for. The issue of Children's rights however is that of a generalization of human rights issues although it is still evolving in the UK and in various aspects of decision making, children's own opinions are important as well and this importance is now gradually being recognized. It is now recognized that children also form a part of the participative society and should not be excluded from their opinions, from social participation or democratic structure, their opinions count and they are also responsible for their decision making and well being. The topic remains controversial and cuts across many avenues and directions in the study of immigration, education, welfare, sociology, politics, psychology and governance. Bibliography Arnott, Margaret (2008) A.Public Policy, Governance and Participation in the UK: A Space for Children The International Journal of Children's Rights, Volume 16,Number 3, pp. 355-367(13) Bennett, Alison;Race, Tracey. (2008) Exploring young people's participation in interprofessional education, taking a children's rights approach. Learning in Health and Social Care, Volume 7,Number 4, December pp. 219-226(8) Convention on the Rights of the Child. Accessed 2009 http://www.crae.org.uk/rights/uncrc.html Giner, Clotilde (2007) The Politics of Childhood and Asylum in the UK. Children & Society, Volume 21,Number 4, pp. 249-260(12) James, Adrian L.(2008) CHILDREN, THE UNCRC, AND FAMILY LAW IN ENGLAND AND WALES. Family Court Review, Volume 46,Number 1, pp. 53-64(12) Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (1990) Convention on the Rights of the Child. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm Perera, Anthony. (2008) Can I Decide Please The State of Children's Consent in the UK. European Journal of Health Law, Volume 15,Number 4, pp. 411-420(10) Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP).accessed 2009 http://www.sccyp.org.uk/ Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP).2008. accessed 2009 UK Children's Commissioner Report to UN www.sccyp.org.uk/UK_Childrens_Commissioners_UN_Report.pdf Thomas, Nigel;Crowley, Anne. (2007) Children's Rights and Well-being in Wales in 2006.Contemporary Wales, Volume 19,Number 1, pp. 161-179(19) Tisdall M., Kay E.;Davis, John M.;Gallagher, Michael. (2008) Reflecting on Children and Young People's Participation in the UK. The International Journal of Children's Rights, Volume 16,Number 3, pp. 343-354(12) Williams, Jane.(2007) Incorporating children's rights: the divergence in law and policy. Legal Studies, Volume 27,Number 2, pp. 261-287(27) Read More