Together with nearly ninety organisations, the Children’s Rights Alliance for England is calling for the new UK Government to take urgent action on children's rights.
Our Children's Rights Charter is supported by a wide range of organisations including, Save the Children UK, the Alliance for Youth Justice, Unicef UK, the Refugee Council, and Child Poverty Action Group. It calls on the new Labour administration to take six concrete steps to put children’s rights at the centre of decision-making: Develop a children's rights strategy; appoint a Cabinet Minister for Children; introduce mandatory child rights impact assessments; increase budget allocations for children; develop a strategy for increasing awareness, knowledge and understanding of children's rights; and incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law.
Last year, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child examined how well the UK was respecting children’s rights. It highlighted a wide range of issues that are detrimentally impacting children including the high numbers of children living in poverty, long waiting lists for children seeking mental health services, and the high prevalence of domestic abuse, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violence against children. It also shone a light on how the rights of some of the most vulnerable children, including children seeking asylum, children in care, and those in contact with the criminal justice system, are not being respected.
Louise King, Director of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, part of Just for Kids Law said:
“It’s imperative that the new Labour Government takes urgent action to address the UN’s concerns by taking forwarding the six concrete steps set out in our Children’s Rights Charter. As an immediate first action, it must work in partnership with children’s rights organisations and children themselves, to develop a children’s rights strategy, with a clear road map for how it will meaningfully improve the daily experiences of our most vulnerable children. The UK Government must also commit to incorporating the UNCRC into domestic law. At the very least, it must ensure that Children Rights Impact Assessments are a statutory requirement to ensure that children’s rights are placed at the heart of government decision-making.”
Read the Children’s Rights Charter and full list of supporting organisations below: