CRAE is proud to join the United Nations in celebrating World Children’s Day, also known as Universal Children’s Rights Day.
A historic commitment to children's rights
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989—a historic commitment to children's rights. The UNCRC outlines the fundamental human rights of every child, ensuring they can have a good childhood and develop to their full potential. It was the first treaty to set out binding human rights specific to children, covering every area of their lives: from their right to have a name and nationality, be free from poverty, have a right to education and play, be protected from all forms of violence, and have their voices heard and valued.
How has the UNCRC improved children’s lives?
When the UK ratified the UNCRC in 1991, it agreed to guarantee respect for children’s rights regardless of the changing political or economic climate. Since ratification, the UK Government has taken many positive steps to ensure children’s rights are a reality for all children - some of which are highlighted below.
One of the first actions taken to ensure we complied with the UNCRC was the world-renowned piece of child protection legislation – the Children Act 1989.
In 1998, the Human Rights Act (HRA) was passed, which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. Case law has made clear that when a case under the HRA involves a child, the rights in the HRA must be interpreted through the lens of the UNCRC.[1]
In 2003, the first children’s minister was established, closely followed by a Children’s Commissioner for England, whose mandate is to ensure all children’s rights are respected and promoted. In 2004, a statutory duty was introduced which requires certain agencies, like local authorities, the NHS and the police, to consider the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when carrying out their functions. [2]
In 2010, a ministerial commitment was made “to take due consideration of the UNCRC in the development of policy and legislation.” In 2018, in partnership with children’s rights organisations, including CRAE, the Department for Education developed a child rights impact assessment (CRIA) template alongside an e-learning tool for civil servants on the UNCRC, to help ensure that children’s rights are considered in UK Government decision-making.
As well as progress in law and Government decision-making processes, we have also made far-reaching progress in many other areas. Take every child’s right to life and the highest attainable standard of health: by 1992 the rate of infant mortality halved from 1978 levels and the first child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) were established in 1998.
The Convention is clear that all children, regardless of their immigration status, should have their rights respected. The UK’s removal of its general reservation to the UNCRC in 2008, which had stated that the UK would not apply the UNCRC to children in the immigration system, was a big step in the right direction.
In 2013, the law was changed so that children who were 17 years-old were treated as children at police stations - in line with the definition of a child in Article 1 of the UNCRC - and the National Police Chief’s Council’s first Children’s Strategy in 2015, clearly referenced the Convention and the importance of treating under-18s as children first and foremost. In recent years, we have also seen much more acceptance of the need to take a ‘child first approach’ in youth justice.
Listening and respecting the views of children is one of the General Principle of the UNCRC. Over the past 35 years we have made many important steps to ensure children’s opinions are considered in decision-making: from the first youth parliament in 1998, to duties on Ofsted and local authorities to consider children’s views, wishes and feelings, as well as the right for all children in care and care leavers to have a statutory right to advocacy. There has also been a proliferation of school councils helping to ensure that children can have a say in decisions.
Where next for children’s rights?
However, despite these positive developments, we have seen progress on implementing children’s rights severely decline in recent years. Indeed, following its examination of the UK in June 2023, the UN Committee made over 200 recommendations for action to ensure that the UNCRC is better respected.
To mark World Children’s Day 2024, we have worked with Eurochild on a new state of children’s rights report: Children’s Realities in Europe: Progress & Gaps, which compiles information gathered from 57 Eurochild members in 31 countries across Europe. The report demonstrates that while some countries have taken steps to promote children's rights, others need to intensify their efforts. This diversity is reflected in the lived realities of children.
In relation to England, the report shows just how far we still have to go before the vision of the UNCRC is fully realised for all children. It emphasises how CRIA remain non-mandatory, resulting in patchy use in UK Government decision-making, and expresses disappointment that the UK Government missed the opportunity to create a Cabinet Minister for Children following its election in the summer.
Although the recent announcement of the development of a youth strategy is welcome, particularly the commitment to engage with young people, the report highlights how there has not been a similar commitment to develop a cross-government children’s rights strategy. This could be used to set out how the UK Government will address the widespread harms caused to children during the pandemic and how it will take forward the recommendations made by the UN Committee.
Huge challenges for some children
The report also emphasises how huge challenges remain for particular groups of children - children in poverty, those in contact with the criminal justice system, children with mental health issues, and children affected by immigration policies.
30% of the child population in England live in poverty – that’s 3,700,000 children. Poverty affects many areas of children’s lives including homelessness, lack of opportunities to play, poor physical and mental health and educational attainment. Children living in families with No Recourse to Public Funds are at risk of destitution, exploitation and abuse.
The report also documents how in 2023 a fifth of those aged 8-25 in England had a probable mental disorder. Children from the poorest 20% of households are four times more likely to have serious mental health difficulties by age 11 as those from the wealthiest. Early intervention is difficult to access and there are long waiting times for mental health support even after a child has been referred to CAMHS.
The need for urgent reform of the child justice system so it fully respect children’s rights is also highlighted in the report, including the need to significantly raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which is just 10 years of age in England. And despite a plethora of evidence and reviews, significant racial disparity continues in children’s interactions with the police and the whole of the youth justice system – shockingly Black and other racialised children make up half of all children in prison.
While the report welcomes the scrapping of the Illegal Migration Act 2023, it raises a note of caution as to whether a change in the UK Government will see children in the immigration system having their rights fully respected and if there will be an end to negative rhetoric and narratives about asylum and immigration.
Finally, despite some progress, the report concludes that many children still do not have their views taken seriously and that statutory participation rights remain ad hoc and do not apply to all children in all settings. And while there are some welcome structures for involving children in national policy-making, much more needs to be done to ensure this is systematic.
Our commitment on World Children’s Day
Ultimately, the only way we will ensure the UK is able to fully implement the UNCRC and ensure all children have their rights respected is through full and direct incorporation of the Convention into domestic law.
It is hugely disappointing that, 35 years after it was adopted by the UN, the CRC has still not been made part of UK law despite positive developments in Wales and Scotland. Incorporation of the UNCRC was a key call in our Children’s Rights Charter that we presented to the Labour Government shortly after the General Election in July.
On this World Children’s Day, CRAE commits to working tirelessly with the government, policymakers, and organisations to ensure that there is progress to enshrine the UNCRC into UK law and ensure that every child has all their rights protected regardless of their background or circumstances. We hope you will join us.
[1] R (P & Q) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department, 2001, EWCA Civ 1151
[2] Section 11 of the Children Act 2004