House of Lords House of Commons Joint Committee on Human Rights Children’s Rights Twenty-fifth Report of Session 2008– 09 Report, together with formal minutes and oral and written evidence Ordered by the House of Lords to be printed 13 October 2009 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 13 October 2009 HL Paper 157 HC 318 Published on 20 November 2009 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 Joint Committee on Human Rights The Joint Committee on Human Rights is appointed by the House of Lords and the House of Commons to consider matters relating to human rights in the United Kingdom (but excluding consideration of individual cases); proposals for remedial orders, draft remedial orders and remedial orders. The Joint Committee has a maximum of six Members appointed by each House, of whom the quorum for any formal proceedings is two from each House. Current membership HOUSE OF LORDS HOUSE OF COMMONS Lord Bowness John Austin MP (Labour, Erith & Thamesmead) Lord Dubs Mr Andrew Dismore MP (Labour, Hendon) (Chairman) Lord Lester of Herne Hill Dr Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrat, Oxford West & Lord Morris of Handsworth OJ Abingdon) The Earl of Onslow Mr Virendra Sharma MP (Labour, Ealing, Southall) Baroness Prashar Mr Richard Shepherd MP (Conservative, Aldridge-Brownhills) Mr Edward Timpson MP (Conservative, Crewe & Nantwich) Powers The Committee has the power to require the submission of written evidence and documents, to examine witnesses, to meet at any time (except when Parliament is prorogued or dissolved), to adjourn from place to place, to appoint specialist advisers, and to make Reports to both Houses. The Lords Committee has power to agree with the Commons in the appointment of a Chairman. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Joint Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the two Houses. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/hrhome.htm. Current Staff The current staff of the Committee are: Mark Egan (Commons Clerk), Chloe Mawson (Lords Clerk), Murray Hunt (Legal Adviser), Angela Patrick and Joanne Sawyer (Assistant Legal Advisers), James Clarke (Senior Committee Assistant), Emily Gregory and John Porter (Committee Assistants), Joanna Griffin (Lords Committee Assistant) and Keith Pryke (Office Support Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Committee Office, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general inquiries is: 020 7219 2467; the Committee’s e-mail address is [email protected] Children’s Rights 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 1 Introduction 5 UK report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 7 2 Implementation of the UNCRC 9 An implementation plan? 9 Incorporation into law 10 3 Attitudes towards children and discrimination 15 Attitudes towards children 15 Discrimination 17 Age discrimination and the Equality Bill 18 4 Children in the criminal justice system 20 Criminalisation of children 21 Age of criminal responsibility 24 Children in custody 26 Measure of last resort 26 Reservation to Article 37 28 Treated with humanity and respect 30 The right to education 33 Anti-social behaviour orders 34 5 Asylum-seeking, refugee and trafficked children 36 Reservation to Article 22 36 Asylum-seeking and refugee children 38 Detention of children seeking asylum 39 Disputes over age 41 Welfare, education and support 42 Trafficked children 44 6 Other issues 47 Children and armed conflict 47 Child poverty 48 Education 50 7 Conclusion 53 Conclusions and recommendations 54 Formal Minutes 60 2 Children’s Rights Witnesses 61 List of written evidence 61 List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament 63 Children’s Rights 3 Summary Surveys by UNICEF and others of the well-being of children and young people have found that the UK is ranked lower than almost all other industrialised countries. We have previously considered children’s rights in the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – which the UK ratified in 1991 – inquiries into human trafficking, the treatment of asylum seekers and the use of restraint in secure training centres, and our scrutiny of legislation. This Report follows up some of the issues we have raised previously in the light of the latest Concluding Observations of the UN Committee which monitors compliance with the UNCRC. We recommend that there should be a UK plan for implementation of the recommendations of the UN Committee on the UNCRC, with annual reports on progress. We are not persuaded that incorporation of the treaty into UK law is unnecessary and reiterate a previous recommendation that any Bill of Rights for the UK should include children’s rights. We also recommend that new, local children and young people’s plans should be founded on the UNCRC. The UNCRC found that there was a “general climate of intolerance and negative attitude towards children” in the UK, which we pressed the Minister for Children to address. Innovative and proactive solutions are required. The Minister said that the Government is working with local media to provide them with positive stories about children and young people and we look forward to scrutinising an evaluation of the Government’s campaign in due course. A large number of discrimination issues were raised by witnesses and should be addressed by the UNCRC implementation plan which we recommend should be drawn up. We also recommend that the Equality Bill be amended to extend protection from age discrimination to people regardless of their age in relation to the provision of goods, facilities and services, except where the discrimination can be justified. We draw attention to the large number of children from vulnerable and marginalised groups in the criminal justice system and the growing number of offences for which children can be charged and convicted. An approach based more clearly on the rights and welfare of the child is needed in this area. The decriminalisation of child prostitution is particularly necessary and we draw attention to the Minister’s inconsistent comments on the subject. Detention of children should be a last resort; more should be done to fulfil the government’s recent commitment not to detain children with adults; the use of ‘pain compliance’ in secure settings is, in our view, incompatible with the UNCRC; we question the degree to which ASBOs hasten children’s entry into the criminal justice system; and we welcome recent proposals to improve education for children in custody. We welcome the withdrawal of the UK’s reservation to Article 22 of the UNCRC, which related to immigration, but question why this has not led to changes in policy and practice. We draw attention to the detention of children subject to immigration control, disputes over the age of asylum seekers, and welfare, education and support issues. Human trafficking, children and armed conflict, child poverty and education issues are also discussed. 4 Children’s Rights Children’s Rights 5 1 Introduction 1. In 2007, UNICEF published a report assessing the well-being of children and young people in 21 industrialised countries.1 It covered educational achievement, health and safety, poverty, behaviour and relationships. The UK came bottom. In April 2009, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) published a similar assessment of child well-being in 29 European countries.2 The UK ranked 24th, ahead only of Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta. These findings were widely reported and prompted media discussion about why the UK’s children were apparently so unhappy.3 It is certainly not difficult to hear or see negative depictions of children’s lives in the media. Stories concerning children as the victims of crime – particularly sexual abuse, assaults and murder – are given extensive coverage. The reporting of crime committed by children is similarly copious, often leading to lengthy public debate about the condition of children today. Concerns about children being less well educated, less disciplined and less respectful than their elders are often expressed. 2. All of these issues relate to the human rights of children, which are principally enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).4 The Convention rights include the right to “a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development”; rights to education, health care, freedom of expression, and play, as well as the right to life and to be protected from abuse. The UNICEF and CPAG research suggests that children’s rights are not being adequately respected and promoted in the UK. A consistently negative portrayal of children in the press may risk creating a culture in which this situation is tolerated. 3. Children’s rights have been a consistent focus of our work, and that of the JCHR in the 2001 Parliament. The Committee’s first Report in its programme of scrutinising the UK’s implementation of the main international human rights treaties was on the UNCRC in 2003.5 The Committee also published Reports on the case for a Children’s Commissioner for England6 in 2003 and on the Bill which became the Children Act 2004.7 Since then, we have frequently reported on children’s issues in the context of our routine scrutiny of Government Bills, including five Bills in the current session.8 In addition, we have often reported on issues concerning the rights of children in our other work, such as our 2006 Report on the Treatment of Asylum Seekers, which included recommendations on 1 UNICEF, Report Card 7, Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries, February 2007.