An article examined the social, economic, and political context in which children's rights were 'routinely breached' in Northern Ireland.
Source: Una Convery, Deena Haydon, Linda Moore and Phil Scraton, 'Children, rights and justice in Northern Ireland: community and custody', Youth Justice, Volume 8 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Dec
A United Nations committee report on children's rights welcomed 'positive work' done by the government since the previous examination in 2002: but it made more than 150 recommendations for further action. It issued its third successive call for a ban on corporal punishment. It said that the committee regretted a 'general climate of intolerance and negative public attitudes towards children' in the media and elsewhere.
Source: Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention: Concluding Observations – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Committee on the Rights of the Child/United Nations (+4 122 917 2600)
Links: Report | Hansard | NICCY press release | CLC press release | EDCM press release | JUSTICE press release | CSIE press release | FET press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Oct
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said that there were deficiencies in United Kingdom legislation with regard to respect for children's rights. He expressed 'serious concern' about the large number of children who suffered physical chastisement.
Source: Memorandum by Thomas Hammarberg (Commissioner for Human Rights), 9 October 2008, Council of Europe (+33 0388 412033)
Links: Memorandum | Council of Europe press release | DCSF press release
Date: 2008-Oct
The children's rights watchdog in Wales called for improved treatment of young offenders and asylum-seeker children; and better policy to combat child poverty.
Source: Annual Review 07-08, Children's Commissioner for Wales (01792 765600)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Oct
The government announced, following a review, that it intended to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in full – with the result that vulnerable children who were subject to immigration control would in future be entitled to the fundamental human rights set out in the Convention.
Source: Press release 22 September 2008, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0870 000 2288)
Links: DCSF press release | UNICEF press release | Save the Children press release | Liberty press release | NICCY press release | Childrens Society press release | BID press release
Date: 2008-Sep
The children's rights watchdog for England published its annual report for 2007-08.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2007/08, HC 912, Office of the Children's Commissioner, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
A report said that the government was not fully implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It made 152 recommendations, including strengthening child protection laws and increasing resources to end child poverty and inequality.
Source: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Children's Rights Alliance for England (020 7278 8222) with others
Links: Report | UNICEF UK press release | DCSF press release
Date: 2008-Jun
The United Kingdom's four Children's Commissioners submitted a report to the United Nations on the performance of the government and devolved administrations on children's rights. The report identified 18 areas of common concern, including: ongoing methods to tackle child poverty; persistent inequalities experienced by children; the failure to consistently take account of the child's best interest in decision-making, for example in the youth justice system in England and Wales; the unsatisfactory treatment of children seeking asylum; and public attitudes towards children and young people, which increasingly 'demonized' them.
Source: UK Children's Commissioners' Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Office of the Children's Commissioner (0844 8009113) and others
Links: Report | OCC press release | NICCY press release | YJB press release | Nacro press release | 4Children press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Community Care report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jun
An article examined how to develop a definition of child poverty that was based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (and the human rights treaties with which it was associated), but which also drew on the development of poverty research in the social sciences. The two challenges faced by researchers and policy-makers were: first, the construction of conversion factors used in the capability approach to link inputs to outcomes; and second, the adoption of national inequality-based standards for assessing indicators of child poverty, thus placing the onus on states to reduce child poverty through redistribution.
Source: Gerry Redmond, 'Child poverty and child rights: edging towards a definition', Journal of Children and Poverty, Volume 14 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Mar