Britains Track Record on Childrens Rights is A Disgrace

It is often said that a civilisation can be measured by the way it cares for its children. If that is the case, Britain has a lot to answer for. Amidst the recent news that the number of UK born children being trafficked for abuse is at an all time high, the question being asked by everyone is simply, why? Why, when we have so many resources at our disposal, so much information to hand to help prevent this tragedy, are children in Britain being failed by its government and associated child protection agencies? A quick look at Britains track record when it comes to childrens rights offers some insight. Ours is still a culture where children should, for the most part, be seen and not heard making it all the more difficult for vulnerable girls and boys to speak out when theyre in danger. And we still refuse to give the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) due weight, with our government treating it as more of an aspirational body of writing, rather than a wholly enforceable piece of legislation. All this, despite having formally agreed in 1991 to ensure that every child in the UK has all of the rights listed in the Convention. Its an uncomfortable awkwardness that creates a gap a gap which far too many children are falling through, every year. Yet even more bizarrely, is the newly resurrected story surrounding Britains Paedophile Information Exchange an organisation which at its height in the 1970s was being entertained as a viable body worthy of political consideration. The PIE as it was known, was set up to lobby government to change the laws surrounding sex with children and to make it legal for adults to have intercourse with minors. That politicians such as Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt and Jack Dromey were prepared to entertain this pressure group under the guise of Libertarian thinking, beggars belief. But such is the disconnect between our adults and our children in England. That though, is not the end of it. Britains poor track record with the United Nations when it comes to child welfare looms large over every area of child policy in the country. The 11th CRAE State of Childrens Rights report in 2013 showed that 88 out of 118 childrens rights issues identified by the United Nations as needing government attention had made no progress or become worse over the past year. The report also goes on to explain that many victims of child abuse are simply not getting the support or help they need. The report goes on to criticise the UK government for failing to acknowledge scientific data which highlights the need to raise the age of criminal responsibility in the country. At present, any child over the age of ten can be arrested and charged with a crime. Thats a ten year old, possibly facing jail for committing a crime. Deaths of children whilst in custody too, are of huge concern, with the most recent findings showing that 16 children have already died in custody, with ongoing concerns over what is being done to prevent these deaths from occurring in the first place. Its sadly telling that such reports exist in the first instance.

From the criminal sector, to the care sector, and thinks look just as bleak. A 2012 High Court judgment in the UK condemned the quality of provision for children in care and the Deputy Childrens Commissioner issued a report that same year which found that children in private care homes were at high risk of suffering from violent or sexual abuse. In yet another report by the Commissioner in 2013, it was noted that 94% of safeguarding children boards - which are run by local authorities, police, the NHS, the probation service and other groups - failed to follow government guidance on tackling child exploitation. From the internet, to the very homes which are supposed to protect our children, it seems nowhere is safe for Britains most vulnerable. Despite this horrendous litany of faux pas and failures, there are small rays of light shining through the country. Perhaps no more than a tokenistic gesture, yet maybe all the more poignant in a place where children are still not embraced the way they should be, is the call for Britain by charity Youth Can Achieve to recognise International Childrens Day. At the moment over 70 countries take part in celebrating this special day, but the UK is not one of them. And the Childrens Commissioner, though often ignored, has published her latest thoughts on the death of children in custody, saying that the report did not go far enough and needs to be widened in scope. Yet there is so much more that needs to be done. Latest figures from the NSPCC show that in 2012, 372 children were referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) as potential victims of trafficking. The Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups (CSEGG), one of the largest inquiries of its kind, carried out by the Children's Commissioner for England identified 16,500 children as being at high risk of child sexual exploitation between April 2010-March 2011. These figures are startling, and highlight the complete failure of the British government to tackle the issue of child abuse. No wonder trafficking has hit an all time high. What next? If we continue to view children as second class citizens not worthy of our protection, whatever claim we think may have towards being viewed as a civilisation will dwindle to nothing in the wake of our abject lethargy surrounding these issues. The shameful headlines speak for themselves: Britain is a country which has no feeling for its children and no understanding of what it takes to care for them.