Where have children’s rights protections gone in the Bill of Rights?



More than halfway through 2004 and so far it hasn’t been a particularly good year for children’s rights protections. The protracted period of direct rule from Westminster has meant little opportunity for children and young people’s organisations here to influence draft legislation and policy as well as a lack of political accountability for those decisions made which affect the lives of children and young people in Northern Ireland.

The recent judgement of Judge Girvan in the case taken by the Children’s Commissioner in relation to the proposed introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) was very disappointing to children’s rights organisations in a number of respects, including in relation to the status of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the standing of the Children’s Commissioner’s office, consultation with children and young people and by extension government’s requirements under Section 75.

The introduction in late August of the commencement order for ASBOs, which will undermine a number of international children’s rights standards, including the right to a fair trial, right to privacy and the right to protection represents a substantial rolling back of accepted children’s rights standards here.

Most recently children’s right to childcare provision has been threatened with over 800 child care places in north and west Belfast likely to be axed due to lack of long-term funding. Sometimes it must feel to people working to improve the lives of children and young people that it is one step forward three steps back.

For all these reasons and more the need for a comprehensive code that sets out the fundamental rights that apply to all children and young people in Northern Ireland, rights which cannot be undermined or removed, is more important than ever. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) has been consulting on just such a code, the Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, for over three years now. During this time the children and young people’s sector has played a very active role in the consultation and debate, under the umbrella of the Children and Young People’s Sector Bill of Rights Group. The group communicated to the NIHRC the views of its 180 plus supporter organisations on the need for the inclusion of the maximum protections for children and young people in the Bill of Rights, with a key element of this being the inclusion of a comprehensive separate chapter on children’s rights.

In April 2004 the NIHRC produced an update report ‘Progressing a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland – an update’, the purpose of which was to ‘respond positively to the various comments and criticisms made about the Commission’s 2001 consultation paper and to give an up-to-date account of developments on the Bill of Rights process’.

Regrettably, from reading this document it would appear that the NIHRC has failed to listen to and respond to the prevalent view that children and young people deserve proper protection through the Bill of Rights. In essence the children’s rights provisions in this document have been seriously weakened, with fundamental and basic provisions being diluted or removed entirely. Core rights such as the child’s right to play and leisure have been removed. Many of the remaining provisions on children’s rights protections have been watered down to such an extent that they now fall short of international standards.

According to the NIHRC its decision radically alter its proposals on children’s rights protections was in response to widespread criticism it received for including a substantial section on children’s rights protections in its 2001 consultation document. Yet nowhere in the NIHRC’s Summary of Submissions (July 2003) is there evidence of this perceived criticism. On the contrary it is clear that there is substantial support for a comprehensive separate section on children’s rights.

The Children and Young People’s Bill of Rights Group has submitted a response to the NIHRC’s update report expressing its concerns in relation to their revised proposals which offer significantly less protection to children and young people than did their 2001 consultation document. We have also noted how critically important it is that the Bill of Rights commands widespread cross-community support, both politically and within civic society, neither of which unfortunately exist at this present time.

Given such concerns it would be clearly inadvisable for the NIHRC to press ahead with delivering its advice on the Bill of Rights to the Secretary of State. Much work remains to be done to ensure that the Bill of Rights proposals reflect both international children’s rights standards as well as the views of both children and young people themselves and those of the children and young people’s sector.

The NIHRC also needs to communicate much more effectively to children and young people, as well as to wider society, the relevance and importance of the Bill of Rights in their lives. The establishment by the two governments of a round table forum, as signalled in their Joint Declaration of April 2003, would represent a key mechanism for garnering political, as well as wider community support for the Bill of Rights.

The potential of the Bill of Rights to ensure that government cannot take any backward steps in relation to gains made for children’s rights protections, such as we’ve seen recently with the introductions Anti-Social Behaviour (NI) Order 2004, must be made fully clear to all those concerned with improving the lives of children and young people.

We would encourage your organisation to raise these concerns in relation to the Bill of Rights with the NIIHRC, your elected representatives or your local media. If you require any further information please contact Sara Boyce on 90 245704 or saraboyce@childrenslawcentre.org .



Sara Boyce
Children’s Human Rights Advisor
Children's Law Centre/Save the Children