The Children's Law Centre and Save the Children

The Children's Law Centre is a voluntary organisation that was established in 1997. It aims to help children, young people, their parents and professionals work with and understand the laws which affect children.

The Children's Law Centre does this in a number of ways - through education and training, legal advice and research. As well as working directly with young people, a lot of work is also carried out with adults involved in children's lives using training, conferences, work with other organisations and by replying to the government when it is making new plans.

Save the Children is the UK's leading international children's charity, working to create a better future for children. The organisation works in the UK and across the world, in over 50 countries. All of the work is about making sure that children's rights are respected.

In Northern Ireland, Save the Children works with communities in a variety of ways to do this. For example, it helps communities take action on young people's issues, helps children and young people to lead projects, it does research and education and tells the government what it thinks of its plans.

The United Nations Convention on the rights of the child

The UNCRC is a promise made by government to young people under the age of 18 years. When the UK government signed it in 1991 they agreed that children and young people are citizens who have a number of rights and they agreed to make sure this promise is kept. The government works through several bodies on an everyday basis, e.g. Dept of Education (DENI), RUC, Health and Social Services Trusts etc . Each of these bodies are supposed to help government keep its promise. This Convention has been signed by almost all of the countries in the world.

Telling The United Nations What Happens

Every five years the government has to tell a group of experts in the United Nations (UN) what they have done to make sure they are keeping their promise. This group of people is called the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. This is the second time the UK government has reported to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child since they signed the Convention in 1991. The Committee points out where government has not lived up to its promises and makes suggestions and recommendations to government about ways to improve things. In the next report, government has to tell the Committee what it has done about these recommendations.

As well as getting reports from the government the UN also invites voluntary and community groups (non-governmental organisations or NGOs) to give reports. When the Committee gets all of the written reports the Committee also holds verbal hearings with NGOs, where people from the country concerned speak to the Committee. Then the Committee cross-examine the government about the progress being made in keeping its promise.

The Children's Law Centre and Save the Children decided to write a report for the United Nations about what the government is doing about their promise in Northern Ireland. 

To do this we decided to have a research project, most of which was with young people like you. We also spoke to some adults e.g. parents, teachers, youth workers and social workers.

We asked young people and adults from all over Northern Ireland about things contained in the Convention, like education and school, about safety, employment and work, decision making, about getting information, about staying healthy, about the police, social workers, teachers, youth workers and probation officers, doctors and medical staff, about parents and other adults. We also discussed leisure time, play facilities, places for young people to meet, transport and the environment.

We looked at the different ways in which young people are discriminated against, e.g. because of their age, gender, race, religion, ethnic origin, cultural identity, sexual orientation, ability/disability, class, geographical location, parents' background.

We carried out the research by using group discussions and questionnaires with young people. In total about 400 young people across Northern Ireland took part in the research. Here is what we found.

Having a say

What you told us:

Most young people feel they have a say in decisions that are made within the family. However, in other places such as school and in relation to issues like health they do not feel they are given enough of a say or are consulted properly.

None of the young people who took part in the research had been involved in making the rules in their schools. Now and then pupils are asked about changes to the school uniform or menu - but this is usual.

'The teachers don't ask us about the rules...some people were asked about changing the PE uniform but most weren't. There is a class captain and vice captain but the teachers choose them'  (Kate, aged 16).

Education

What we found out:

Schools in Northern Ireland are very focused on passing tests and exams. Northern Ireland is the only region of the UK that has kept the 11+. It is also the only area that has two types of second level education - i.e. secondary and grammar.  

Like young people in other regions, young people here also have to do tests at different Key Stages.
 
Teachers told us that all of this testing and the league tables are not really helping them do the job they trained to do - i.e. teach, as they have more and more paperwork to do in order to satisfy the government's rules.
 
Some young people in Northern Ireland do very well in their exams - over one-quarter leave school with 3 or more A Levels. But nearly half (46%) leave school with less than 5 GCSE's.

Traveller young people are especially discriminated against in education. Some examples of this are, having a separate school for Travellers, by refusing to accept children from the Travelling community into a school or by accepting lower standards of facilities for Travellers compared to those for children from the settled community. 

Irish Medium schools and Integrated schools do not get the same support that other schools receive.

School Exclusions

Young people are sometimes excluded from school by suspension or expulsion. Sometimes exclusions are for seriously dangerous behaviour such as hitting another pupil or teacher or throwing a chair across a room. But these are the exceptions - young people are much more likely to be excluded for reasons such as their hair style/colour, wearing nose-rings or other jewellery not permitted or not wearing their full uniform.

There is no appeals procedure for suspensions and although there is one for expulsions, it is the parents of the child who have the right to appeal. Pupils do not have a right of appeal. There is very little space for young people to make their voices heard here.
Sometimes schoolgirls who become pregnant are asked to leave the school. Occasionally, they are allowed to stay in the school after they have had their baby - so long as they don't talk about the baby or bring in photos of the child:

'My Principal told me that I could not start back to school (after the summer holidays) as I would be mixing with males and it would not look good for a girl my age to be walking around with a bump. I was very upset at this and was even more upset to be told that my daughter's father was allowed back'   (Elaine, aged 17).

Young school-age fathers are not normally treated in this way - but their needs may be ignored altogether.

School Discipline

Rules, and the way that rules are enforced in a school, will make sure that everyone is treated with respect and dignity.

What you told us:

Young people are not always treated with dignity and respect. For instance, some young people who attend an independent school said that they 'got the cane'. 
 
Although the majority of other young people do not get hit in school, they feel that teachers use their words to inflict pain and hurt on them. For instance, pupils are embarrassed when teachers make them repeat an incorrect answer or display their poor writing or spelling to the class.

Information

Most young people told us that the sex education they received was not very good - it's often split up between Biology, RE and PSE:

'We knew more about the flowers and the animals than we did about our own bodies'   (Chris, aged 17).

Most of the information that is given is about childbirth or periods. Pupils felt they knew more about abortion than sex education.

'Our careers classes lasted for 30 minutes a week - people doing A Levels got more but most people left school after 5th year'  (Peter, aged 18). 

Privacy

There are lots of examples where your privacy is not respected. As well as feeling that you are being watched by members of your community other things, like the way estates are planned and the lack of meeting places for young people, affect your privacy. For young people in juvenile justice centres things like spy-holes in their bedroom doors mean that they have little privacy.

Lack of privacy within schools is also a big issue for young people in Northern Ireland. You told us that you often feel that your privacy is invaded by teachers who come into shower rooms after PE, who want 'proof' that you have had a shower, who stand watching people change for/after PE. Some young people feel so upset by this that they don't go to PE class or sometimes skip school on the day(s) PE is timetabled.  

Play and Recreation

Young people and children will have places and time to play. Young people will have places to meet friends and to form clubs/organisations with them.

There are very few play areas where children/young people can play safely. Children often cannot use their local parks as these tend to be dirty, the play equipment is often broken and sometimes people drink and sniff glue in the parks, making them unsafe places for play. Other times the parks are locked.

'The swings in our park come out of the ground'  (Angela, aged 14).

'There's no place to play around here so everyone plays on the street but sometimes the cars go too fast - it's dangerous'   (Tony, aged 11).

For young people in rural areas, there is an assumption that being surrounded by open fields means having lots of place to play. But the fields are part of what farmers work with and often have animals and crops in them so they are not suitable play spaces. Farms can often be dangerous places for children.

Many young people, especially young women, do not feel that youth clubs have much to offer them. In some places there are no youth clubs. There are very few places where young people can go to meet their friends.

'Well there's only the (x) centre but that's only if you're interested in rock music - it wouldn't be safe for a Raver to be seen going in (there)'   (Nicky, aged 17).

All of this means that the majority of young people play or meet their friends on the street. Often adults in the community then get annoyed at the young people.

Homelessness

Young people aged 16-25 make up more than half of those who looked for help from the Simon Community (an organisation for homeless people) in 1997/98.

In 1997 three times as many young people contacted Starting Point, another homeless organisation, than had done in 1996. Almost all of these young people were under the age of 18.  It is very difficult for young people under 18 years to be housed by the government.

Youth Justice

A child of 10 years can be charged with a criminal offence. Although the government has agreed that young people under the age of 18 should be treated as children, 17 year olds are regarded as adults by the police and courts. This means that 17 year olds can be kept in a prison with 21 year olds.
Young women of 17 are held in an adult prison.
 All young men under 17 who need to be held in custody are sent firstly to Lisnevin Juvenile Justice Centre. Inspectors from the government have said that this Centre is not a suitable place to keep young people.

  'Lisnevin... is a dehumanising penal institution...' (Social Services Inspectorate, 1997).
Emergency Law here means that a child as young as 10 years can be detained by the police for up to 7 days without charge.
Young people who are in custody have told us that the education they receive in the centres is not good. They do not use the same curriculum as other young people. They do a very limited number of subjects and do not really feel that they learn much. Neither do they have much opportunity to take part in sports and the range of other activities is very limited.

 'We do Mechanics nearly all day - we only do odd bits of other subjects'     Jerry, aged16).

'The school here isn't proper - you don't learn anything except for woodwork and PE'     (Jason, aged 14).

Young people from certain backgrounds are more likely to be in the youth justice system than other young people. For instance, a high proportion of those in juvenile justice centres have special educational needs, are young people who have been in care and/or are young Catholic men. 

Safety

Most young people - both Protestant and Catholic - do not feel the police do a good job protecting the community. You feel that they are slow to come out when they are needed, for example in situations of domestic violence. You feel that they spend most of their time harassing young people and moving you on from street corners.

'I don't think they care about both sides because there's a girl in my class...who's a Protestant and she says they treat them ones like scum as well and shout things at them ones'     (Aine, aged 17).

Occasionally some young people say that the police are doing a good job because they tackle drink driving, make the roads safer and detect crimes. These opinions tend to be from younger people of primary school age as opposed to teenagers.

The police are generally regarded as being discriminatory - this is sometimes on the basis of race, gender, religion but also, class. As one young person pointed out people living in middle class areas are not hassled by them. The police continue to put young people's lives in danger by using plastic bullets. 

Some young people feel that, although they seethe police as being the protectors of the community, they could not call them if there was trouble in their area because the young person would feel threatened by the reaction of other people living in the area.

Ethnicity

Children of ethnic minority groups should be able to enjoy their own culture and religion. Members of ethnic groups will not be discriminated against.

Being a member of an ethnic group in Northern Ireland can mean being bullied because of your race. It can also mean that you do not have the same access to information and services that everyone else has.

For example, there are 6,000 Chinese people in Northern Ireland yet, only some Education and Library Boards have help for children from ethnic groups in school; sometimes parents are not able to help their children with homework because their English is very limited and there is also a shortage of trained interpreters in the health services.

Travellers, too, experience discrimination in relation to their living conditions, lack of suitable housing, education and health. Many Travellers do not have access to clean water or basic sanitation.

Disability

A young person with a disability is likely to have to attend a special needs school - often this is not close to his/her home and can mean that the young person has to board. It is difficult for young people in this situation to have friends around home. It is likely that such young people will have few friends who do not have a disability.

Young people living with a disability often find it difficult to get access to information and sometimes feel that they are not really listened to by adults. For instance, if they are trying to decide whether or not they should have an operation or some medical treatment, sometimes they are not told all of the details or feel they are put under pressure by medical staff to have the treatment.

Young People in the Care System

Children who cannot be cared for at home will be cared for by government.  A young person in care will have his/her situation reviewed regularly. The young person's views on care plans will be taken into account. A young person in care will not be disadvantaged in any way.

Sometimes young people cannot live at home with their parents or other family members. Some children have lost their parents. When this happens young people are cared for by Social Services. They may live in a children's home or with foster parents.

Through a new law called the Children Order young people in care are having more of a say in what happens to them than they did before this. However, sometimes this depends on the social workers involved. Some social workers are great at listening, but others are not.

Young people in care often feel they are pitied and that people feel sorry for them.

Sometimes adults who are involved with children in care do not respect the young person's privacy. For instance, they might tell other adults or young people about them being in care or other information.

Young people who have been through the care system are more likely to leave school without any qualifications than other young people.

Employment

Young people who work will be protected so that they are safe, they are well treated and they are paid properly.

Young people are not all treated equally in their paid work. Some people are well paid but most are not. Many young people have to do the hard and unpleasant jobs whereas older people are, they feel, treated with more respect.

The laws relating to young people and paid work are very old and not, you feel, very suitable for today's situation. Neither are they enforced. Employers who break the law do not appear to be prosecuted.

Knowledge of the Convention

Most of the young people we spoke to (68%) have never heard of the Convention. Some of you have but don't really know what it means. However, a lot of you (68%) are interested in knowing more about it.
 

So What Happens Now?

Now that we have found out what you think of how the government is keeping its promise, what are we going to do?

All of this information will be given to the United Nations, to young people, to adults who work with young people, to government officials and to our Assembly Members.

We have made lots of suggestions in our main report about making things better for children and young people in Northern Ireland.

We will be running workshops and training events to tell young people and adults about what we found out. These workshops will also explore how we can improve things.

We will be watching closely all of the actions of the government and of the Assembly to make sure that they keep their promise.

We need your help to do this. Tell your parents, friends, teachers, youth workers, social workers and any other adults you know about the Convention. Tell us in the Children's Law Centre and Save the Children if you are being treated unfairly. Ask us about getting more information about the Convention. Ask us to help you about bringing the Convention into your school, youth club or community centre. Join the Children's Law Centre Young Person's Group. 
The Convention is a promise to all children and young people - help us to make sure it's a promise that's kept.  

Why not email us and join click below

Copies of the full report are available from the Children's Law Centre, telephone 028 90 245704 or from
Save the Children, telephone 028 90 431123 or you may print this summary page