[child-rights] CRC 31st Session: United Kingdom presents second periodic report

UNITED NATIONS
Press Release

xxxxxxxxxxUNITED KINGDOM PRESENTS SECOND PERIODIC REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE 
ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS xxxxxxxxxx

CRC
31st session
19 September 2002

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland today
presented its second periodic report to the Committee on the Rights
of the Child on the measures it has adopted in order to give effect
to the rights recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child
and on the progress made on the enjoyment of those rights.

Introducing her country's report, Althea Efunshile, Director of the
Children and Young People's Unit of the Department for Education and
Skills of the United Kingdom and head of the delegation, said that at
the national and local levels, the Government was now building
experience and expertise so that children and young people had
opportunities to express their views freely and for their views to be
taken into account in the development of policies and services.
Within the Government itself, officials were increasingly involving
youth fora and young parliaments, she said.

In her preliminary concluding remarks, Committee Expert Judith Karp
said that the United Kingdom should have a new vision of child rights
in light of the peace agreement in Northern Ireland and human rights.
The Government should use the maximum resources available to it to
promote and protect child rights. The Committee will release its
concluding observations and recommendations before the end of its
three-week session on 4 October.

Ms. Efunshile was accompanied by Andrew McCully, Deputy Director, and
Brenda Fitzgerald, Ella Insani and Rebecca Beeton, of the Children
and Young People's Unit, Department of Education and Skills; Tom
Jeffery, Director of Children and Families Group, Department for
Education and Skills; Bruce Clark, Head of Children's Services,
Department of Health; Felicity Clarkson, Director of Asylum and
Appeals Policy Directorate, Home Office; Simon Hickson, Head of
Juvenile Offenders Unit, Home Office; and Colin MacLean, Head of
Children and Young People's Services, Scottish Executive.

Also, Chris Burdett, Head of Children and Families, Welsh Assembly;
Tony Kavanagh, Northern Ireland Office; Chris Stewart, Head of
Community Relations - Human Rights and Victims Division, Office of
the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland;
David Riley, Desk Officer, Human Rights Policy Department, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, London; Paul Bentall, Second Secretary, and
Bob Last, Human Rights Attache, Human Rights Section, of the United
Kingdom's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva; and Susan McCrory,
Legal Advisor, of the United Kingdom's Permanent Mission to the UN in
Geneva.

The United Kingdom is among the 191 States parties to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and as such it is expected to present
periodic reports to the Committee on how it is implementing the
provisions of the treaty.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Friday, 20 September, to
hold a general day of discussion on the question of "the private
sector as service provider and its role in implementing child
rights". The general day of discussion will be opened by the new High
Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Report of the United Kingdom

The second periodic report of the United Kingdom, contained in
document CRC/C/83/Add.3, enumerates the various activities
accomplished in complying with the provisions of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child. It gives account of the performance of the
country, particularly Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales.
It says that during the past five years, there have been major
developments in governing policies in relation to children, and those
changes are fully reflected in the report.

The report notes that developments on law and policy affecting
children have served to reinforce the United Kingdom's compliance
with the Convention over the past five years. But the timing and
content of those developments have been dictated by the needs within
the country, and those needs have not necessarily arisen in a pattern
which follows the structure of the Convention itself.

It further notes that there are distinct cultural and traditional
differences between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland,
which in the case of Scotland and Northern Ireland extend to
significant differences in the legal systems. This diversity of
practice is underpinned and strengthened by the creation of the
Scottish Parliament, the new Assembly in Northern Ireland, and the
Welsh Assembly.

Introduction of Report

ALTHEA EFUNSHILE, Director of the Children and Young People's Unit at
the Department for Education and Skill of the United Kingdom,
highlighted the achievements made following the establishment of new
structures to ensure a coordinated and holistic approach to the
interest of the child in the development of policies and services in
England, and before the devolved governments were in place to develop
their own responses specific to the needs of children in Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland.

She said that in England, the creation for the first time of the post
of Minister for Children and Young People and the establishment of
the cross-government Children and Young People's Unit was enabling
the Government to look across the range of different policies
affecting children's lives with a single consistent focus on the best
interests of the child. The Unit was able to represent the United
Kingdom in a range of international fora where children's and young
people's issues were considered, but most importantly offered for the
first time a dedicated government body to focus on its obligations
under the Convention. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, there
were comparable new structures at ministerial and official levels to
offer an integrated approach to children's issues.

Ms. Efunshile continued to say that at the national and local levels,
the Government was now building experience and expertise so that
children and young people had opportunities to express their views
freely and for their views to be taken into account in the
development of policies and services. Within the Government itself,
the officials were increasingly involving youth fora and young
parliaments.

The Director said that non-governmental organizations had always
played a vital role in the United Kingdom in delivering services for
children and in representing their interests. Although the Government
did not always agree with non-governmental organizations on every
issue, NGOs across the United Kingdom played an increasingly
important part in the development of strategies for children.

There was much more to be done, Ms. Efunshile said, adding that in
England, the Government was developing for the first time an
overarching strategy for children which would be published by the end
of the year. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, there were also
developing approaches to strategic coordination of services to
improve outcome in the lives of all children and young people.

Experts' Questions on General Measures, Definition of the Child, and
General Principles

The Committee Experts started raising questions on the first cluster
of main subjects of general measures of implementation; definition of
the child; and general principles.

An Expert asked about the process of power devolution to the various
components of the United Kingdom, particularly concerning the
implementation of the rights of the child; and the different
definitions of the child in the legal systems of those entities. The
Expert said that because of the different regimes in each entity,
there should be a guarantee by the United Kingdom that the provisions
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which it was a State
party, were complied with. She said that the right to education of
adolescents in prison was not respected; and the measures to expel
children from schools violated the right of children to education.
The Committee had in the past recommended that the United Kingdom
abolish corporal punishment in schools and in the family, which it
did not do. The issue of corporal punishment should be given a second
thought and the Government should take steps towards prohibiting its
use.

Another Expert focused on coordination and how it was taking place in
the United Kingdom among the different entities and government
bodies. With regard to allocation of budget, the Expert said that
children got quite a big amount of the total national budget. The
report gave a good description of what the Government was doing
against child poverty, but what was the amount of the budget dealing
with child poverty? How many children lived in relative poverty? How
was poverty defined? There was a report that there were 4 million
children defined as relatively poor; and 3 million households were
affected accordingly.

The Government should be commended for its efforts to overcome the
situation of poverty through the provisions of funds to children and
young people, the same Expert continued to say. What procedure was
used during the process of privatization regarding knowledge of the
provisions of the Convention by the private sector? She asked if the
Government was prepared to withdraw some of the reservations it had
made upon ratification of the Convention.

An Expert asked about the age for criminal responsibility, which was
different in Scotland and England. Was the Government doing anything
to reverse this situation?

Another Expert said that the majority of children in England and
other parts of the United Kingdom did not know about the Convention.
A high percentage of children and families should have knowledge
about it. There was a lack of information concerning specific
problems affecting children, such as suicide. Such information should
be made available to the Committee on the basis of data collection.

An Expert also asked about the situation of poverty, which she said
affected many children and adolescents. She wanted to know if the
Government had mapped poverty to identify which members of the
population were affected by it. She also wondered what measures were
taken to reduce the number of discriminatory incidents affecting
black children.

Delegation's Response

In response to the questions raised by the Committee's Experts, the
members of the United Kingdom's delegation said that because of the
traditional and legislative differences among the four nations --
England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland -- the implementation
of children rights were also different. However, the policies and
strategies on the rights of the child were similar. In addition, the
monitoring and coordinating function, and overall responsibility of
the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, remained in
the hands of the Westminster Government.

The delegation said that in each national entity, there were
governmental bodies dealing with children and young people. There
were also policies and strategies to protect and promote the rights
of the child. In all the national entities, the Convention on the
Rights of the Child was a foundation for every action undertaken by
the authorities with regard to child rights. In addition, a number of
programmes were designed to promote the best interests of the child
and young people.

Responding to Experts' comments that the report did not fully follow
the guidelines of the Committee, the delegation said that the next
one would be prepared in accordance with the guidelines. Concerning
the incorporation of the provisions of the Convention into domestic
legislation, the Government would do its best in that regard. The
Government was drawing up policies and strategies which would enable
the realization of child rights.

Asked about the overarching strategy for children, the delegation
said that the strategy and much of the United Kingdom's Government
activity for children was to deliver high quality services for
children and young people. All four parts of the United Kingdom were
developing strategic frameworks for children and young people.

On the question of corporal punishment and physical chastisement, the
delegation said that there was a decline in the incidents of child
death in the hands of parents or caretakers as a result of corporal
punishment.

Questions by Experts on Civil Rights and Freedoms, Family Environment
and Basic Health.

The Committee Experts focused their questions on the second cluster
of the main subjects, which concerned civil and rights and freedoms;
family environment and alternative care; and basic health and
welfare.

An Expert asked about the continued use of rubber bullets by the
police despite recommendations by a UN body to ban their use; about
the right to demonstration; about training of police officers
concerning child rights; and about the rights of homosexual, lesbian
and heterosexual children and their rights to obtain information so
that they felt free in the society by assuming their sexual
orientation.

Another Expert said that she had the impression that a conservative
approach was still reflected concerning children rights. She wanted
to obtain more information about the legal consequences against the
perpetrators of violence against children. The status of education
should be upheld, and the amount of education provided to children
should be compatible with their environment.

Response by Delegation

Concerning corporal punishment and violence, the Government was
engaged in awareness-increasing programmes through the distribution
of leaflets and other brochures to parents and persons involved in
child care, the delegation said. The judicial and educational
authorities were jointly designing policies and strategies to reduce
incidents affecting children as a result of corporal punishment.

The phenomenon of child poverty in the United Kingdom was related to
family unemployment, the delegation said. Since 1997, the real income
of families had grown by 20 per cent. Between 1997 and 2001, the
number of children in Great Britain living in households with low
incomes had fallen. The Government had made substantial investments
to reduce child poverty and social exclusion. The proportion of
children living in "workless households" had fallen from 17.9 per
cent in 1997 to 15.5 per cent in 2001.

Child labour was highly regulated and local authorities had to be
satisfied with the working conditions of young workers in order to
approve them, the delegation said. The Government prohibited the
employment of children until the age of 13.

Concerning the situation of Travellers, the delegation said that
local officials could at their discretion provide sites to be used by
them. So far, 300 such authorizations had been issued by the
authorities.

There were some ethnic minority children who were doing well in
education, the delegation said. The Government was determined to
focus on the educational achievements of each ethnic group in
schools. Also, it was determined that universal qualities in
education were achieved in schools. The disproportional rate of
school expulsions of black students had been substantially reduced,
although the number in the London area was still high.

Asylum seeking children were either assisted within their own
families if they were accompanied, or in institutions if they arrived
alone, the delegation said. There were welfare responses to the
situation of unaccompanied children by local authorities.

With regard to self-esteem of children in institutions, the
delegation said that generally, since the present Government had come
into office, there had been a number of reviews made on ways to
prevent problems involving children. For instance, the service for
disabled children had been consolidated in one body for better
coordination and for the promotion of service delivery. For the last
five years, the focus of the present Government had been on improving
education and the school system.

Asked about the use of plastic bullets, the delegation said that the
last lethal incident was 13 years ago and since last year, safer
plastic bullets had been introduced. They were exclusively used by
the army and the police and were used under specific circumstances.

Questions by Experts on Basic Health and Special Protection Measures

The Committee Experts raised a number of questions under the main
subject of basic health and welfare and special protection measures.

An Expert wondered why the United Kingdom's report or any
non-governmental organization's report had failed to advocate for the
prohibition of child labour. She said that the place of children
should be in school. She commended the Government for ratifying
International Labour Organization Conventions No. 138 and 182 with
regard to minimum age of admission to employment and the worst forms
of child labour.

Another Expert also asked questions on how to handle children law
offenders; on the administration of the juvenile justice system, and
the minimum age for criminal responsibilities; why the duration of
child custody was long; and the condition in which children were
imprisoned, involving stigmatization and punitive measures, among
other things.

What measures had been taken to integrate disabled children into the
society and to allow them to participate in the decision-making
process in matters concerning them, an Expert asked. What was the
number of disabled children kept in institutions? Although the number
of deaths involving children had dropped in recent years, road
accidents were on the rise causing child deaths and disabilities. The
rate of breast-feeding was low in the United Kingdom; what
nutritional formula was used to substitute breast-feeding? What was
the extent of female genital mutilation? Was its practice legally
prohibited?

Another Expert asked if the pattern of bullying in schools had
changed since the Committee noted this violent aspect during the
examination of the initial report of the United Kingdom. She also
asked for further information on the destiny of students expelled
from schools on a temporary or permanent basis.

Response by Delegation

Responding to the questions raised by Committee Experts, the
delegation said that the Government had put together a comprehensive
mechanism on good practices concerning the well-being and safety of
working children. The Government had ratified ILO Conventions 138 and
182 on the minimum age for employment and the elimination of worst
forms of child labour, respectively.

The delegation said that the introduction of the Children's Tax
Credit and Working Families Tax Credit, and the elements of
income-related benefits for children under 11 had increased by 85 per
cent, in real terms. From 2003, the new Child Tax Credit would bring
together all existing income-related benefits and tax credit support
for children into a single source of income, providing financial
support to families both in and out of work.

The implementation of the anti-terrorism act, which was recommended
by the anti-terrorism committee of the Security Council, was under
close scrutiny, the delegation said. The situation of children
involved in terrorist activities would be given special attention.

Children between 16 and 18 were not considered as adults under the
juvenile justice system as it was alluded to by one of the Experts,
the delegation said. However, the minimum age for criminal
responsibility was set at 10 years. Police reprimand or other
corrective measures were applied to children between 10 and 13 years.
However, when a child above 12 was implicated in repetitive offences,
custodial measures might be necessary in some cases. A little more
than 3,000 children were at present in juvenile establishments which
were run by prison authorities. The mixing of child offenders with
adult inmates had not been completely eliminated.

Disabled children were the Government's priority and a substantial
amount of money had been spent on services concerning them, the
delegation said. Next year, the amount would be increased. The
Government has also made available financial assistance to disabled
children living within the family. The number of disabled children
living away from their families was not known.

The exclusion of a student from a school did not mean exclusion from
education, the delegation said. The Government had designed a
national behavioural strategy to assess the attitudes of children in
school, including the pattern of bullying.

At the end of the discussion, the delegation said that the country's
parliament will hold on 24 October a debate on the Convention on the
Rights of the Child.

Preliminary Concluding Remarks by Committee Expert

JUDITH KARP, Committee Expert, thanked the members of the delegation
for their very professional way of answering the Committee's
questions; however that did not mean that the Experts agreed with all
that was said. The United Kingdom should have a new vision of child
rights in light with the peace agreement in Northern Ireland and
human rights. The Government should use the maximum resources
available to it to promote and protect child rights. The Committee
would provide the Government with a list of concluding observations
and recommendations before the end of its session.

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