Submission to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission from

The Children’s Law Centre and Save the Children

regarding

The Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland

February 2001

"People should not be just docile subjects of rights: rights are never 'given' to people. Rights must be asserted, and they must be asserted on one's own behalf and on behalf of all other human beings, without distinction. "

Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Introduction

The Children’s Law Centre is a voluntary organisation that was established in 1997. It aims to help young people, their parents and professionals work with and understand the laws, which affect children. Although based in Belfast, the centre has a Northern Ireland wide remit.

Current priority areas of work include education and training, legal advice and research, all of which have a rights based approach as their starting point. In addition to working directly with young people, much work is also carried out with adults involved in children’s lives through mechanisms such as training, involvement in conferences, inter-agency work and responses to draft government policy and legislation.

The Children’s Law Centre is founded on the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and seeks to ensure that the equality provisions of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 are upheld with specific respect to children and young people.

Save the Children is the UK's leading international children's charity, working to create a better future for children. The organization works in the UK and across the world, in over 50 countries. Emergency relief runs alongside long-term development and prevention work to help children, their families and communities to be self-sufficient. Learning from the realities of children's lives, Save the Children campaigns for solutions to the problems children and young people face. All the work is underpinned by a commitment to making a reality of the rights of children enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In Northern Ireland Save the Children works through a variety of partnership approaches to support community level action on children's issues; facilitates children and young person-led initiatives; undertakes independent research and policy analysis and promotes children's rights through public education and fundraising activities.

Both the Children’s Law Centre and Save the Children welcome the opportunity to make this submission to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.

The Need to Protect Children and Young People's Rights in Northern Ireland

Current legislation, international or domestic, does not fully protect the human rights of children and young people in Northern Ireland today. Despite having legislation such as the Children Order, 1995 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is clear that children suffer significantly. The following are just some statistics:

• Children and young people under the age of 18 years make up 27% of the population (NISRA, 2000).
• 37% of children live in poverty in Northern (SCF, 1995). Northern Ireland has a higher proportion (14%) of singe-parent households than the rest of the UK (10%). Lone parents account for 19% of those in receipt of income support(NISRA, 2000). There are almost 100, 000 children under 18 years living in households in receipt of Income Support (NISRA, 2000). One quarter of those living in NI households are under 16 years and NI households have more people living in them than the rest of the UK (NISRA, 2000). More than one-in-five households in NI are dependent on social security compared to 12% in the UK (NISRA, 2000).
• Children looked after and child protection -there are 2324 children looked after, the vast majority of whom are placed with foster families (NISRA, 2000). There are 1463 children on the child protection register and numbers of registrations on the register have increased by 31% in the last ten years to 1093 in 1999 (NISRA, 2000)
• Youth justice - there were 1,114 juvenile prosecutions at the Magistrates court in 1997 - 4% less than 1996. In 1988 immediate custody accounted for 40% of all disposals in 1998 for young people (NISRA, 2000).
• Education - Less than one-third of pupils leaving secondary schools attained the minimum qualifications for employment in 1998 (Dept of Education, 1999). Almost half (47%) of young people in the care system leave school with no formal qualifications (Pinkerton and McCrea, 1996). It is estimated that 20% of all school children have special educational needs (Moffat, 1997). 96% of teachers have not received any information on ethnic groups as part of their initial training. Only 15% have received some on in-service training courses (Commission for Racial Equality, 1999). Over 75% of teachers say they need more support to effectively deliver sex education programmes in schools (Health Promotion Agency, 1996). Most (77%) of second level schools/FE Colleges do not have a student representative body such as a student council (NI Youth Forum, 1999).
• Health - Over one-third of people in NI suffer from long-term illnesses - a quarter indicate that such illnesses limit their activities (NISRA, 2000). Northern Ireland has a higher proportion of people indicating the possible presence of psychiatric disorder than the rest of the UK (NI Health and Well-Being Survey, 1999).
• 17% of households here have a child/children who suffer from asthma while 14% have a child/children with a disability, which limits their activities (NI Health and Social Well-Being Survey, 1999). 43% pf those visiting the Belfast Brook Centre attended for emergency contraception (1998). 1408 children were accommodated by Women's Aid in 1997/1998. In 1996/97 5537 children and young people up to the age of 16 were hospitalised due to accidental injury. Between 1990-1997 accidents accounted for almost 15% of all child deaths in NI (Child Accident Prevention Trust, 1999). Every 5 hours there is a child casualty on our roads. Every 16 hours there is a child pedestrian casualty and every 28 days there is a child killed on our roads (RUC, 1997).
• Racism - recent research indicates that we are twice as racist as we are sectarian in NI (Connolly and Keenan, 2000).
• Disability - 43% of income support claimants have a disability (NISRA, 2000). Social services accounts for only 8% of support groups for parents who have a child with a disability (???) Almost one third of children in juvenile justice centres have a learning or physical disability (Horgan and Sinclair, 1997).
• Sectarianism and trauma - in over 30 years of conflict, 3243 people have been killed and over 40000 injured (RUC, 1998). 26% of all victims of the conflict have been aged 21 or less (Smyth, 1998).
• 23% parents of children under the age of 18 sought help from outside agencies or from family and friends to help with problems their children had (NI Health and Well-Being Survey, 1999).
• q During the period 1994-1998 58 young people under the age of 20 committed suicide in Northern Ireland. It is the second most common cause of death among young people in the region (N & W BHSST, 1999). Self-harm is one of the main reasons why children are placed in care (SSI, 1997). There are 6 hospital beds in Northern Ireland for young people who are mentally ill. During 1994/95 233 young people were discharged from adult psychiatric wards (SSI, 1997).
• During the year-end March 1998 2701 people under the age of 25 presented themselves as homeless to the NIHE - this is almost one-quarter of all presenters (Council for the Homeless, 1998). 9% of children and young people in NI have been forced to run away from home in 1999 (The Children's Society, 1999).

The Children's Law Centre and Save the Children want to see introduced a free standing Bill of Rights that is entrenched. Although we recognise that the children of Northern Ireland have suffered grievously because of the conflict of the last three decades, this Bill of Rights needs to go beyond the conflict and have a broad interpretation of the Belfast Agreement and the Northern Ireland Act, 1998.

We acknowledge the introduction into domestic legislation the European Convention on Human Rights, but this could not be considered to be a dramatic improvement in terms of either protecting or promoting children and young people's rights being focused mainly on civil and political rights and also in terms of it being 50 years old. In addition, this Convention was a compromise and rather than ensuring the highest standards, actually reflects the lowest common denominator.

We also want to see the establishment of a Constitutional Court in order to enforce the Bill of Rights. The judiciary of this court should be reflective of the broad spectrum of the population and its judges should be appointed through a transparent process of open competition - they should not be political appointments.

In terms of further consultation on the draft Bill of Rights we urge the Human Rights Commission to produce a plain English version that can be understood by children and young people and to commit to real dialogue with young people on its content.

It is the belief of the Children's Law Centre and Save the Children that the Bill of Rights should explicitly state that children and young people are entitled to at least all of the rights that adults have and in addition recognise that they are vulnerable members of our society who need protection. Consequently, the following clauses are proposed:

Definition of the Child
Everyone under the age of 18 years is considered a child.

2. Non-Discrimination

i) Every child has the right to equality, equal protection and benefit of the law.

ii) The state shall respect and guarantee the rights of children and young people to each child without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parents' religion, sex, race, political or other opinion, nationality, language, economic status, culture, social or ethnic origin, descent, disability, sexual orientation, age, birth or other status.

iii) The State shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected from all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions or beliefs of the child's parents, guardians or other family members.

3. Best Interests of the Child

i) In all actions concerning children and young people, whether undertaken by public or private institutions, individuals or bodies, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.

ii) The State guarantees to every child and young person in need of care and protection such services and treatment as are necessary for his or her well being.

4. Implementation of the Bill of Rights

In order to guarantee the best interest of the child, the state shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementation of the rights of children and young people, including making necessary resources available.

5. The Right to be Heard

i) The State shall assure to every child and young person the right to express his or her views freely in all matters concerning him or her. The state undertakes to consider such views and to give them due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child

or young person.

ii)The State shall provide all children and young people with the opportunity to participate effectively, either directly or indirectly through an independent representative in all proceedings, administrative or judicial, affecting them and particularly in the education, care, health and justice systems as appropriate. Every child and young person has the right to enjoy access to the law and to legal representation.

iii) The State recognises the right of children and young people to participate and play a constructive role in society and the future of Northern Ireland. To this end, it shall promote and encourage all those working with and for children and young people to collaborate, co-operate and form partnerships with children and young people to further the protection of their rights.

6. Awareness of Rights

The State undertakes to make the rights of children and young people widely known and accessible to all. To this end, the State undertakes to include human rights education on the school curriculum, as well as on the training programmes for all those working for, in connection with or on behalf of children.

7. Protection from Abuse

i) Every child and young person has the right to be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, bullying, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.

ii) Such protection shall include the taking of all necessary legislative, administrative, social and educational measures, the establishment of effective programmes for the identification and investigation of such abuse and the care and treatment of victims.

8. Detention of Young People

i) Every child and young person has the right to liberty. Children and young people must only be detained in exceptional circumstances, where it is in accordance with law, a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.

ii) Every child and young person deprived of their liberty shall be treated with respect for their dignity and rights and in a manner, which takes into account their age, and their particular needs. In particular, every child and young person shall be separated from adults in detention, shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, such as a psychologist and/or social worker, as well as the right to challenge the legality of his/her detention within a reasonable time before a competent legal authority.

iii) Every child and young person shall have the right to have their privacy and correspondence respected in detention and shall have the right to maintain regular and direct contact with his or her parents, siblings, other family members and friends, save in exceptional circumstances.

iv) Every child and young person deprived of their liberty shall have an equal right to education provision as outlines in Article 10 of this Bill, as is necessary to prepare for his or her re-integration into society and assuming a constructive role in society upon their release.

9. Trial of Young People

i) The State undertakes to keep the age of criminal responsibility under review so as ensure its consistency with international and other standards. It shall strive to ensure the equal treatment of all children in the criminal justice system.

ii) Every child and young person alleged as, accused of or convicted of having infringed the criminal law has the right to be treated in a manner consistent with respect for his or her dignity and human rights and in accordance with his or her age and understanding. A variety of dispositions and alternatives to institutional care shall be available to ensure that children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to their well being and proportionate to their circumstances and the offence.

iii) Every child and young person has the right to have explained to him or her in appropriate language, and if appropriate through his or her parents or guardian, in a prompt manner the nature of the charges against him or her, to have access to appropriate legal and other assistance in the preparation of his or her defence.

iv) Every child and young person has the right to participate effectively in her or her criminal trial and to this end to have measures taken to ensure his or her understanding of the legal proceedings.

v) Every child and young person has the right to have his or her privacy fully respected at all stages of the proceedings.

vi) The State shall continue to develop measures for dealing with children and young people in trouble with the law without resorting to judicial proceedings and in a way, which removes such persons from the criminal process, provided that their human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected.

10. Education

i) Every child has the right to an effective education.

ii) The state shall strive to ensure that education is inclusive and respects the rights and need of all children, especially children with disabilities, children in care, juvenile justice centres, children of ethnic groups and Traveller children. To this end, the State shall take measures to combat all forms of discrimination in the school system and shall ensure that all children have the right to access the curriculum, as well as to receive an education which is aimed at the fulfilment of their potential and realisation of their talents. The State shall promote and encourage the development of different forms of education, including integrated and Irish medium schools, and shall make such schooling accessible to every child.

iii) The State shall ensure that school exclusions are only imposed as a measure of last resort bearing in mind the fundamental nature of the right to education and the negative impact, which an exclusion can have on a young person's future. Children excluded from school have the right to be informed promptly of the grounds for their exclusion, to receive all documentation relating to the school's decision to exclude and have the right to participate in any appeal procedure, together with their parents or other independent representatives as outlined in Article 5 of this Bill.

iv) The State undertakes to adopt measures to protect the safety of pupils in school, to respect their privacy and to guarantee their participation at all possible levels.

v) Children have the right to receive information and guidance on careers and matters of sex and sexuality.

11. The Family

i) Every child and young person has the right to grow up in a stable, safe and loving family environment and to this end, the State shall provide support and assistance to parents in their role as primary carers.

ii) A child or young person deprived of, or in whose interests cannot be allowed to remain in, that environment, is entitled to special protection and assistance from the State. This alternative care shall include foster placement or adoption within a reasonable time, the choice of which shall be determined by the best interest of the child alone.

iii) The State's obligation to protect and support children and young people shall end only when it is no longer required. In particular, children and young people leaving care should be prepared for and supported towards independent living.

iv) Every child and young person separated from one or both parents has the right to have regular and direct contact with them where it is in his or her best interests.

12. Leisure and Play

Every child has the right to leisure and play which is appropriate to their age and ability and which contributes to their social, physical, emotional, creative and intellectual development. The State shall promote the right of all children to participate in cultural, recreational and artistic activities.

13 Children Living with Disabilities

i) Every child and young person living with a disability has the right to enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions, which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate their active participation in the community.

ii) Every child and young person with a disability has the right to special care and assistance, to inclusive education and to assistance with independent living.

14. Health Care

i) Every child has the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and shall enjoy the right to access all appropriate health care services, including dedicated psychiatric services.

ii) The State shall take appropriate measures to address health problems specific to children and to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco, drug and alcohol addiction.

iii) Every child has the right to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual and social development. The State shall provide material assistance and support to parents to enable the full implementation of this right to be achieved.

Should you require any further information or if you have any queries in relation to this please do not hesitate to contact Children’s Law Centre, Philip House, 123-137 York St, Belfast, BT15 1AB. Telephone 028 90 245704. E-mail info@childrenslawcentre.org