UK implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child NGO alternative report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child – ENGLAND This report has been produced by the Alliance for Inclusive Education National Youth Advocacy Service Children’s Rights Alliance for England APPROACH Ltd. NCH (CRAE). A drafting committee was Association of Lawyers for Children NSPCC established in 2007, with representatives Association of Panel Members Parenting UK from the following organisations: Association of Youth Offending Team Phoenix Consultancy and Training Ltd Managers Phoenix Education Trust • Action on Rights for Children (ARCH) ATD Fourth World Play England • APPROACH Ltd. Baby Milk Action playtrain • Brook Bail for Immigration Detainees Princess Royal Trust for Carers • Child Poverty Action Group British Association for Community Child Prison Reform Trust • Children’s Rights Alliance for England Health Public Law Project • The Children’s Society British Association of Social Workers Queer Youth Network • ECPAT UK British Humanist Association Race on the Agenda (ROTA) • Howard League for Penal Reform British Youth Council Refuge • Medical Foundation for the Care of Brook Refugee Council Victims of Torture Bury St Edmunds Youth Council Release • Nacro Calcot Services for Children Royal College of Nursing • National Association for Youth Justice Campaign for State Education Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health • National Children’s Bureau (NCB) Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education Salford children’s rights service • National Society for the Prevention of Child Dynamix Save the Children UK Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Children and Armed Conflict Unit Scope • Refuge Children North East Shelter • Royal College of Paediatrics and Children’s Legal Centre Shout Out! Off The Record Child Health Children’s research centre, Open University SOLAR Centre, University of the West of • Save the Children UK Children’s Rights Alliance for England England • UNICEF UK. Children’s Rights Officers and Advocates Southwark Community Care Forum A very large number of organisations and Childrenslinks Spurgeons individuals have contributed to this report, Daycare Trust Standing Committee for Youth Justice often whilst working under pressure ECPAT UK Stonewall trying to protect the human rights of English Secondary Students’ Association Streetlegal children. The investment into this report, Fair Play for Children Summerhill School by CRAE and others, shows how strongly Families Need Fathers The BIG Bug Show we care about the implementation of the fpa (Family Planning Association) The British Institute of Human Rights Convention on the Rights of the Child in Get Connected The Children’s Society our country. Headliners UK The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Howard League for Penal Reform The Family and Parenting Institute CRAE has supported children and young Independent Academic Research Studies The Fostering Network people to undertake their own children's Inquest The Medical Foundation for the Care of rights investigation and a separate report Investing in Children Victims of Torture is being submitted to the UN Committee Jemmbarrio The National Youth Agency summarising the main findings. Jigsaw4u The Who Cares? Trust Supporting organisations KIDS Tooks Chambers Triangle The 102 non-governmental organisations Law Centres Federation Trust for the Study of Adolescence listed below support this report to the Lawyers for Young People UK Youth UN Committee on the Rights of the Child London Play UK Youth Parliament prepared by the NGO (England) drafting Mind UNICEF UK committee and co-ordinated by CRAE. Mouth That Roars Voice Nacro Not all organisations work across all areas Woodcraft Folk National Association for Youth Justice of implementation of the Convention on Xpress Advocacy Service / SEAP National Children’s Bureau (NCB) the Rights of the Child. Youth Access National Council of Voluntary Child Care Action for Prisoners’ Families Organisations In addition to the NGOs listed above, A National Voice National Council of Voluntary Youth several projects and groups working within Action on Rights for Children Services (NCVYS) statutory settings have endorsed this report. Page i Contents Overview v General measures 1 Overall picture: still a very unequal society 1 Immigration reservation 1 Detention with adults’ reservation 1 Convention not incorporated into UK law 2 No co-ordinating body within government 2 Children’s Commissioner legislation does not meet Paris Principles 2 International aid still lower than UN target agreed in 1970 3 Marked differences across UK in political engagement with Convention 3 Children’s access to justice is worsening 3 Lack of dissemination of the Convention 3 Limited dissemination of periodic report 3 Definition of the child 4 Incoherent minimum age requirements 4 General principles 5 Unequal enjoyment of rights 5 Age discrimination 5 Discrimination faced by lesbian, gay and bisexual young people 6 Discrimination in school admissions 6 Discrimination faced by gypsy and Roma children 6 Child’s best interests not consistently reflected in legislation 6 Child’s best interests not considered when sentencing parents 7 Parents imprisoned and fined for children not attending school 7 Teenagers to be penalised for not taking up “right” to education 7 Other penalties on parents 7 Inequalities in infant mortality rates 8 Large gap in life expectancy 8 Up to two child homicides every week 8 Child deaths in custody 8 Taser guns now being used 9 High incidence of self-harm among children 9 Disabled children’s right to communication not prioritised 9 Lack of student choice and decision-making 9 Not all children heard in family proceedings 9 Safe contact and the child’s wishes and feelings 9 Independent advocacy not widely available 10 Child’s wishes and feelings in child protection investigations 10 Lack of consistent and effective complaints procedures 10 No right for a child to veto adoption, or to be informed that they are adopted 10 Civil rights and freedoms 11 Violation of disabled children’s right to family life 11 Inadequate right to information about identity or parents 11 Police given more powers to move children off the streets 11 Excluded children prohibited from being in public 11 Page ii Contents (Contents) Anti-terrorism legislation increases police powers to stop and search 11 Ministers fail to ban discriminatory ‘mosquito anti-social device’ 12 Serious erosion of children’s right to privacy 12 Schools given wider powers to punish behaviour 14 Lack of protection from harmful media 14 Child death reviews not meeting full human rights requirements 15 Corporal punishment not prohibited in all settings 15 No national strategy to end all violence against children 16 No overall prevalence data on violence against children 16 Inadequate support for young witnesses 16 Youth Justice Board’s failure to protect vulnerable children 16 Painful “distraction” techniques in secure training centres 17 Children injured following restraint in custody 17 Tear gas used on children in custody 17 Very small proportion of abused children seek help from statutory agencies 18 Lack of confidential assistance 18 Young carers not receiving adequate support 18 Punishment for genuinely consensual sexual behaviour 18 Family environment and alternative care 19 Child’s right to family contact not adequately protected 19 Penalties on parents – for whose benefit? 19 High numbers of black children and children with special educational needs in care 19 Inadequate legal protection and services for looked-after children 19 Unequal protection for children in private foster care 20 Inadequate children’s services in refuge accommodation 20 Basic health and welfare 21 Discriminatory treatment of disabled children 21 Health inequalities are growing 21 Failure to ban advertising of formula milk 21 Unequal access to health services 22 Insufficient health visitors and school nurses 22 Child and adolescent mental health services and appropriate hospital care 22 Sex and relationships education not part of statutory school curriculum 22 Parents can remove children from sex education (unless part of science) 23 Over a third of the UK’s children living in poverty 23 Inadequate benefit levels and discretionary social fund 23 Poor housing conditions 23 Teenagers in bed and breakfast accommodation 23 Poor pay more for utilities 24 Education, leisure and cultural activities 25 Not all children can enjoy right to education 25 Continuing high level of school exclusions 25 Testing is making children unhappy 26 Why is bullying a common childhood experience? 26 Concerns about state-funded academies and faith schools 26 Right to play, rest and leisure 27 Page iii Contents (Contents) Special protection measures 28 Immigration reservation 28 Immigration control takes priority over children’s best interests 28 No guardianship for separated children 28 Entering UK without documentation 28 Age disputes 29 Lack of adequate safeguarding for separated children 29 Use of Immigration detention for failed asylum-seekers 30 Unacceptable conditions in immigration detention 31 Discriminatory benefit entitlements and health care for asylum-seeking families 31 Deliberate policy of destitution for asylum-seekers 31 Asylum determination process 32 “Profound inequality” of gypsy and traveller children 32 Discriminatory minimum wage 32 Failure to ratify optional protocol and other international instruments 33 Inadequate protection from trafficking 33 Children going missing from local authority