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Government policies denying children of rights

Wednesday, 01 July 2015 12:07 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 01 July 2015 3:12 PM ]

A new report for the United Nations has found that the British government’s policies are stripping children of their rights. (File image)

A new report for the United Nations has found that the British government’s policies are stripping children of their rights.

The UK’s first full review of children’s commissioners expressed “serious concerns” about children’s accessibility to justice in the courts and suggested the government and ministers to reconsider the controversial welfare cuts as well as plans to abolish the Human Rights Act.

The four commissioners who conducted the report will present their own reviews of the current state of children’s policies to the UN as part of the review for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The findings highlight questions on government decisions and the impact they have had on the children of Britain.

England’s children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, said: “We are finding and highlighting that much of the country’s laws and policies defaults away from the view of the child. That’s in breach of the treaty. What we found again and again was that the best interest of the child is not taken into account.”

The report shows 25% of children in the UK are familiar with domestic abuse between adults at home while “many of the youngest and most vulnerable children are currently not heard” in family courts. It also indicates an increase in abuse among young people. Commissioners argue that nearly two thirds of “contact sexual abuse of children was perpetrated by other children”.

The report says “The act has been vital in promoting and protecting the rights of children in the United Kingdom and the European Court of Human Rights has had an important role in developing the protection offered to children. The commissioners are concerned that any amendment or replacement of the HRA is likely to be regressive.”

It mentions the £12bn cuts from the benefit budget have caused 4.1m children to live in poverty- 500,000 more than there were before Cameron’s leadership.

A spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions said: “This report ignores the fact that the proportion of individuals in relative poverty is now at the lowest level since the mid-1980s. The best route out of poverty is work and this government makes no apology for its efforts to raise incomes by expanding employment opportunities.

“Our reforms to the welfare system are focused on making work pay and our reforms to the tax system are allowing people to keep more of what they earn.”

SU/HA

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