Draft Strategy for Children and Young People - Summary of Response and                                                                                     Recommendations

                                                                     Children’s Law Centre
                                                                             February 2005

Introduction

The Children’s Law Centre is an independent charitable organisation established in September 1997 which works towards a society where all children can participate, are valued, their rights respected and guaranteed without discrimination and every child can achieve their full potential. We offer training and research on children’s rights, we make submissions on law, policy and practice affecting children and young people and we run an advice/information/representation service. We have a dedicated free phone advice line for children and young people called CHALKY and a youth advisory group called Youth @ clc.
Our organisation is founded on the principles enshrined in The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular:
• Children shall not be discriminated against and shall have equal access to protection.
• All decisions taken which affect children’s lives should be taken in the child’s best interests.
• Children have the right to have their voices heard in all matters concerning them.
In responding to OFMDFM’s Draft Strategy, we consulted with Youth@clc, the Children’s Law Centre’s youth group which is made up of young people aged between 15-21 years, from various backgrounds who aim to ensure that the voices of children and young people are heard at local and national levels of decision-making. The primary aim of Youth@clc is to promote awareness of children’s rights, with an ultimate goal of every child and young person in Northern Ireland being fully aware of their rights and the laws that affect them. The views expressed by Youth@clc feed into this response.
Summary of Response and Recommendations

In making our response to OFMDFM’s Draft Strategy for Children and Young People (the Draft Strategy), we addressed the UNCRC Committee’s Concluding Observations (2002) to assess compliance with the recommendations and the UNCRC as a whole. This summary details our concerns and any recommendations made in our response. A copy of our full response to this consultation can be accessed at www.childrenslawcentre.org, or by contacting Natalie Strain 028 9024 5704. A copy of the UNCRC Committee’s Concluding Observations is attached as an appendix to our full response and can also be accessed at http://www.unhchr.ch. Where a recommendation refers directly to a section in the Draft Strategy, we have referenced the section in this summary for ease of reference.

The draft Strategy in its current format no longer aims to be the implementation plan for the UNCRC and we urge OFMDFM to reconsider this as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have recommended that National Strategies are the implementation mechanism for the UNCRC in Northern Ireland. We see the full implementation of the UNCRC through the Children’s Strategy as the only way to deliver on the Strategy’s vision and values and to secure the meaningful realisation of the rights of children and young people in Northern Ireland. (UNCRC Committee’s Guidelines on Periodic Reports CRC/C/58/para 17) [ Paras 1.2.4 and 4.4.3 Draft Strategy]
We strongly recommend that the draft Strategy is extensively amended to address the UNCRC Committee recommendations. It is important to note that Government will again be reporting to the UNCRC Committee in 2007 and that the Northern Ireland administration addresses all of the Committee’s previous recommendations and is seen to be making real progress in addressing the failings identified in the Committee’s 2002 report (The UNCRC Committee’s concluding observations are attached at Appendix 1 to the full consultation response) [Para 2.3 Draft Strategy]
We would be grateful if OFMDFM would provide details of the system which they intend to use to analyse responses to the consultation process including the degree of weight which will be attributed to both individual and organisational responses. This is a vital element to drawing conclusions from responses and progressing with identified areas for immediate action or otherwise. We would appreciate information both on the system itself and on its operation for the purposes of analysis.

We strongly recommend that the word ‘responsibilities’ be removed from the draft Children’s Strategy and any further discussion of children’s rights to give clarity and prominence to the spirit and letter of the UNCRC and to ensure compliance with international standards. [Pages 3 - Foreword, 40 - Strategic Outcome and 43 - Draft Action and paras 1.2.4, 2.1.1, 5.3.2 Draft Strategy]

There remains a need to prioritise the setting up of systems for disaggregated data collection. (UNCRC Committee’s General Comment 5 CRC/GC/2003/5 para 48) [Para 2.1.4 Draft Strategy]

We advocate that the final version of the Children’s Strategy should refer directly to the ‘key parts’ of other strategies and plans, e.g. the Gender, Racial Equality and Anti-Poverty Strategies to ensure that no areas are ignored or presumed in one Strategy to be addressed by another and vice versa. [Para 3.1.1 Draft Strategy]

There is a clear need for a common and consistent framework for applying child impact assessment and child right’s proofing of policies, strategies, practice and legislation across Government. (CRC/GC/2003/5 para 37) [Para 3.1.1 Draft Strategy]
We firmly believe that the language of the UNCRC should be used to reflect the central importance of the UNCRC, and in particular, its principles, in creating a vision for a Children’s Strategy for all children and young people in Northern Ireland. [Paras 4.2.2 and 4.2.3 Draft Strategy]
The removal of refugee and asylum seeking children from the draft Children’s Strategy is directly discriminatory and should be urgently rectified through inclusion as a central element to be addressed within the five key areas for action in the Children’s Strategy and also in the strategy for children in need. (UNCRC Committee Concluding Observations CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 23 and 50) [Para 7.3.4 Draft Strategy]

OFMDFM must amend the draft Strategy to ensure that it applies to all children and young people and that all children are included within the key areas for action, rather than merely in the section on cross-cutting themes. Equal weight should also be attributed to all the nine groups detailed in section 75 in equality impact assessment. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 23) [Para 6.1.3 and Pages 72-75 Draft Strategy]
We believe that it is vital that the Strategy is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable Realistic Time Bound), i.e. that it is structured in such a way as to enable its staged delivery over a given time period against measurable outcomes which allow for monitoring, accountability and regular evaluation. It must commit to actual timescales, and specific, measurable targets. There must be an acknowledgement of the current position of children and young people and baseline data collected so that meaningful targets can be established for the ten year lifetime of the Strategy. In addition, the indicators must be child centred and based on the principles of the UNCRC; stating the effect the indicators will have on the lives of the children and young people whom it refers to with a focus on the measurement of progress. [Pages 40-75 – Draft Actions Draft Strategy]

The draft actions and associated indicators highlight a great deal of currently ongoing work and there is very little in the draft Strategy which is new and innovative. . [Pages 40-75 – Draft Actions Draft Strategy]

We strongly recommend that the draft Strategy clearly indicates that adequate ringfenced funding will be committed towards its implementation and a commitment is made that Government departments will not have to compete ‘on the open market’ to secure funding for the Strategy’s implementation. (CRC/C/58/para 20) [Para 7.8.1 Draft Strategy]

While the UNCRC uses the term “according to their age and maturity,” we wish to stress the need for Government to engage in meaningful awareness raising, communication, participation and direct consultation with children and young people of all ages. An awareness-raising campaign must recognise and address the varying information needs across different age bands, from pre-school children to 16-18 year olds. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 20 and 21) [Pages 43 and 47 – Strategic Outcomes Draft Strategy]

The Strategy needs to develop actions to ensure that primary school children are educated about their rights. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 48f) [Page 40 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

OFMDFM needs to look more closely at its proposed awareness raising campaign to ensure that vulnerable groups are targeted through awareness raising and are equally enabled to exercise their rights. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 21) [Page 42 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

The Children and Young People’s Action Plan should articulate in detail the specific child-centred actions that will be undertaken in the context of the various strategies. There is also a need for much more information on how the implementation of the various strategies will be monitored from a child’s rights perspective. [Page 38 and para 7.3.2 Draft Strategy]

We wish to see the draft action on proofing of policies and legislation expanded to include existing as well as new policies and legislation. Child impact assessment should also apply to the policies and practices of all Government departments, including the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP), the Budget, macro policies and other strategies. The Children’s Strategy needs to include commitments to develop a similar model of children’s rights proofing and child impact assessment which can be employed in assessing both existing and new legislation and policies. (CRC/GC/2003/5 para 45) [Page 40 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

We would suggest that a draft action be included in relation to the meaningful participation and representation of children and young people in administrative decision-making processes and in court proceedings which affect them. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 30) [Page 41 – Strategic Objective Draft Strategy]

In order to carry out monitoring of the implementation of the UNCRC, there is a need for comprehensive disaggregated data collection, child impact assessment and child rights indicators as well as regular reporting by Government departments to a Ministerial Committee. (CRC/GC/2003/5 para 9) [Page 42 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

The Strategy should very clearly state the statutory duty to directly consult with children and young people as one of the groups identified in section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act under the category of age. (Equality Commission’s Guide to the Statutory Duties 2005 para 5.1) [Page 44 Draft Strategy]

There is a need to ensure that all children and young people can have their say, as per Article 12 of the UNCRC and section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act and removal of the obstacles to meaningful participation is vital for marginalized children, such as those in the youth justice system, minority ethnic children, looked after children, children with disabilities, including those with mental health needs, child carers and those from rural communities. Meaningful participation with children and young people should permeate across all Government departments and agencies. We also wish to highlight the obvious need for development of new and innovative models of participation to ensure that representative groups of children and young people not only have their voices heard, but have these views taken into account in decisions which affect their lives. Indicators to demonstrate meaningful participation should be centred on engagement and measurement of impact, rather than a counting exercise which will be inadequate in measuring progress. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 30) [Page 44 – 47 Draft Strategy]

We strongly advocate that the Government explicitly refer to physical punishment in the section on Family and Community Support and also state that the defence of reasonable chastisement will be removed and physical punishment outlawed as a matter of urgency as recommended by the UNCRC Committee at paragraph 38a of the UNCRC Committee’s concluding observations. We also wish to see an explicit commitment by Government to carrying out a public education campaign around the negative impact of physical punishment as recommended by the Committee. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 32a and b) [Page 50 and 62 - Draft Actions Draft Strategy]

The section on Achievement, Learning and Enjoyment should be revisited to ensure that the UNCRC Committee recommendations are addressed through the elimination of discrimination and inequality in education for all children and young people, regardless of background or situation. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 48c) [Pages 54 - 57 Draft Strategy]

Other areas which are noticeably lacking in the draft actions on education include the implementation and monitoring of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 (SENDO), looked after children, school age mothers and children in the youth justice system. There would be a great deal of merit in the inclusion of these areas in keeping with the strategic objectives, the UNCRC and Committee recommendations. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 48c and d) [Pages 54 - 57 Draft Strategy]

Work must begin immediately on developing an integrated system of child rights indicators while the Strategy is still being drafted. These child rights indicators, which should include as a minimum information on compliance with the general principles of the UNCRC, should be adopted consistently across all departments, applied to both the strategic draft actions in the Strategy as well as to the over-arching Children and Young People’s Action Plan, otherwise it will be impossible to properly or accurately monitor progress and evaluate its impact in terms of advancing children’s rights. (CRC/GC/2003/5 para 48) [Page 58 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

There should be a clear recognition in the Children’s Strategy of a number of crisis areas which require urgent action which fall under this strategic outcome. One obvious example is the need for increased provision of mental health services and the urgent need for increased investment in mental health services for children and adolescents in Northern Ireland. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 44c) [Page 62 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

The UNCRC Committee recommendations state that the Government should take measures and set up mechanisms and structures to prevent bullying and violence in schools and include children in the development and implementation of these strategies. We strongly feel that reviewing the Anti-bullying strategy alone will not deliver the strategic outcome or objectives, nor will it fully meet the UNCRC Committee recommendation. There must be some detailed planned action points which go beyond reviewing the anti-bullying strategy to deliver on the commitments made at a strategic level. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 48e) [Page 60 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

Issues which come under the remit of protection and have resulted in some of the most egregious breaches of children’s rights include sexual exploitation, non-state violence, plastic bullets, anti-social behaviour orders and physical punishment as a form of abuse. We wish to see these areas addressed within the Children’s Strategy in response to the UNCRC Committee recommendations and in keeping with the Strategy’s, ‘right’s based whole child approach.” (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 58b, d, 27 and 38a) [Pages 60 - 63 Draft Strategy]

We recommend that the Government revisits the section relating to domestic violence with a view to taking real action to improve the lives of children and young people suffering as a result of domestic violence in a way that complies with the UNCRC and makes progress on the Committee recommendations. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 40b and c) [Page 64 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

The discriminatory nature of the minimum wage whereby children under the age of sixteen are not entitled to a minimum wage and those under 18 and 21 are entitled to lower rates is economic exploitation and directly contributes to child poverty. We wish to see clarity in relation to this draft action and associated indicator and rather than use of the word ‘fair’ we would support use of the word, ‘equal’. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 55) [Page 64 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

We advocate that the UNCRC Committee’s recommendations are adequately addressed in relation to restraint and seclusion in custody, emergency legislation should be reviewed to ensure UNCRC compliance and the age of criminal responsibility raised considerably. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 34, 54c and 62a) [Pages 64 - 67 Draft Strategy]

The Children’s Strategy should clearly address the UNCRC Committee’s concluding observations in relation to the trial of children as adults and the protection of the privacy of children in conflict with the law. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 62c and d) [Pages 64 - 67 Draft Strategy]

We recommend that the Children’s Strategy addresses the issues of holding children and adults separately in detention, giving 17 year olds on remand special protection as well as guaranteeing children in custody equal rights to health and education. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 62e, h and g) [Pages 64 - 67 Draft Strategy]

We recommend that further actions which commit to undertaking a study on child prostitution and taking real action on the sexual exploitation of children be included in the Children’s Strategy as recommended by the UNCRC Committee. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 58a and d) [Pages 64 - 67 Draft Strategy]

It is essential that tackling child poverty is a central issue within the Government’s anti-poverty strategy and the Children and Young People’s Strategy and also that these strategies focus on the needs and rights of those children and families who are most at risk of severe and persistent poverty. Government policies must provide a sufficient standard of living to ensure that families with children can provide them with the basic necessities and also that children do not suffer social exclusion as a result of lack of income or hidden poverty. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 46c) [Page 68 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

The Children’s Strategy should address the fact that young people aged 16 and 17 have no automatic right to social security benefits and also receive a lower level of income support and jobseekers allowance than adults over 25, regardless of the fact that they may be living independently. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 46c) [Pages 68 – 71 Draft Strategy]

The Government needs to make tangible commitments and take real action to address the needs of Traveller and homeless young people. Rather than carrying out an assessment of the situation over a seven year period, the Government needs to eradicate youth homelessness and immediately provide adequate, culturally appropriate accommodation for Traveller children and their families. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 22, 52 and 46b) [Page 70 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

The UNCRC Committee’s concluding observations included a recommendation that the Government should take all appropriate measures to reduce inequalities in health and access to health services. This draft action does not go far enough to ensure the required reduction in inequalities in health provision. This draft action should be examined in further detail to establish how the Government aims to fulfil the Committee’s recommendation. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 42) [Page 70 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

In measuring child poverty, account should also be taken of measures of deprivation in accordance with level of household income. The critical issue of debt must also be addressed in any meaningful assessment of poverty. The associated indicators, as throughout the document, are not child centred and do not indicate the impact on the child’s life as a result of the draft actions that Government is committing to undertake. This section, as with the remainder of the document needs to shift its focus back onto the child and what this draft Strategy will achieve in real terms for our most vulnerable group in society, children and young people. [Pages 68 – 71 Draft Strategy]

The Children’s Strategy needs to further address the issue of non-state violence as a child protection issue and offer real solutions to those children who are affected by non-state forces in their lives. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 40b) [Page 72 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

We recommend that OFMDFM ensures that the proposed strategy for children in need addresses the issues of reduction of all forms of violence against children, ensures consistent legislative safeguards for looked after children, commits to undertake a large scale public education campaign to reduce child deaths and child abuse, proposes the introduction of a system of child death inquiries and effective procedures to deal with child abuse and ill treatment and outlines methods of provision of care, recovery and integration of victims; all areas which the Children’s Strategy has not addressed. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 paras 40a, c, d, e and g) [Page 74 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

The UNCRC Committee in its concluding observations has recommended that all children, including adopted children should have the right to obtain information on the identity of their parents. We strongly encourage the DHSSPS, through involvement in the Children’s Strategy, to address this concluding observation in the development of its adoption strategy. This should also be included in the Children’s Strategy. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 32) [Page 74 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

The draft Strategy fails to adequately address the needs of children in the youth justice system in relation to education, health, including mental health and more generally. We strongly recommend that OFMDFM fully and adequately address the needs of children and young people in the youth justice system in the final Children’s Strategy. (CRC/C/15/Add.188 para 62g) [Page 74 – Draft Action Draft Strategy]

We also must express our considerable concern at the reference to, ‘further support which will be available for the implementation of the Strategy through National Lottery Funding’, which we note is contracting. This will in effect mean that the Government will be competing with NGO’s for funding to implement the Children’s Strategy. In light of this and Government’s failure to ring-fence funding for the Children’s Strategy in the draft budget and priorities, alongside indications that the Children’s Fund is to be phased out means that we unfortunately have to question the genuine commitment and political will to making a real difference to the lives of children and young people in Northern Ireland. (CRC/C/58/para 20) [Para 7.8 Draft Strategy]

There would appear to be considerable merit in the establishment of a Minister for Children, not least in the ability of such a Minister to really put children’s concerns at the heart of Government by greatly increasing their ranking as a political priority. Northern Ireland falls behind the three other jurisdictions and the Republic of Ireland, where Ministers for Children already exist. (NICCY research 2004 page 10) [Para 7.2 Draft Strategy]

There is need for a mechanism to ensure wider political stewardship of the Strategy. Within the Strategy there should be clear identification of responsibility for delivery of the commitments contained therein, from Ministerial level down giving clear accountability structures both under direct rule and devolved Government. Detailed responsibility for delivery of the Strategy at Executive, Ministerial and Departmental levels should be included. [Pages 77 - 81 Draft Strategy]

A political structure of accountability should be included in the Strategy, which may entail placing responsibility with the Northern Ireland Executive as a whole, but the implementation being monitored by an appropriate Committee of the Assembly to monitor progress and to review how effectively Government departments are working together to deliver on the Strategy’s priorities. We also feel that it would be important in the interests of transparency and partnership working that an independent ongoing structure of monitoring is maintained, possibly along the lines of the NGO Forum. The role of children and young people will obviously be crucial in monitoring the Strategy and mechanisms to include children and young people and their parents in monitoring the implementation of the Strategy must be detailed. [Pages 77 - 81 Draft Strategy]

In terms of reporting in relation to the monitoring process, we are concerned that production of a biennial report runs contrary to the UNCRC Committee recommendations and section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Reports should be produced annually. Frequent monitoring is essential in order to establish areas which need to be reviewed and to ensure that where remedial action is necessary it is taken quickly and effectively. (CRC/GC/2003/5 para 49) [Para 7.9 Draft Strategy]