UNITED KINGDOM PRESENTS SECOND PERIODIC REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

CRC
31st session
19 September 2002




The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland today presented its second periodic report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the measures it has adopted in order to give effect to the rights recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and on the progress made on the enjoyment of those rights.
Introducing her country's report, Althea Efunshile, Director of the Children and Young People's Unit of the Department for Education and Skills of the United Kingdom and head of the delegation, said that at the national and local levels, the Government was now building experience and expertise so that children and young people had opportunities to express their views freely and for their views to be taken into account in the development of policies and services. Within the Government itself, officials were increasingly involving youth fora and young parliaments, she said.
In her preliminary concluding remarks, Committee Expert Judith Karp said that the United Kingdom should have a new vision of child rights in light of the peace agreement in Northern Ireland and human rights. The Government should use the maximum resources available to it to promote and protect child rights. The Committee will release its concluding observations and recommendations before the end of its three-week session on 4 October.
Ms. Efunshile was accompanied by Andrew McCully, Deputy Director, and Brenda Fitzgerald, Ella Insani and Rebecca Beeton, of the Children and Young People's Unit, Department of Education and Skills; Tom Jeffery, Director of Children and Families Group, Department for Education and Skills; Bruce Clark, Head of Children's Services, Department of Health; Felicity Clarkson, Director of Asylum and Appeals Policy Directorate, Home Office; Simon Hickson, Head of Juvenile Offenders Unit, Home Office; and Colin MacLean, Head of Children and Young People's Services, Scottish Executive.
Also, Chris Burdett, Head of Children and Families, Welsh Assembly; Tony Kavanagh, Northern Ireland Office; Chris Stewart, Head of Community Relations - Human Rights and Victims Division, Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland; David Riley, Desk Officer, Human Rights Policy Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London; Paul Bentall, Second Secretary, and Bob Last, Human Rights Attache, Human Rights Section, of the United Kingdom's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva; and Susan McCrory, Legal Advisor, of the United Kingdom's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva.
The United Kingdom is among the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such it is expected to present periodic reports to the Committee on how it is implementing the provisions of the treaty.
The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Friday, 20 September, to hold a general day of discussion on the question of "the private sector as service provider and its role in implementing child rights". The general day of discussion will be opened by the new High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Report of the United Kingdom
The second periodic report of the United Kingdom, contained in document CRC/C/83/Add.3, enumerates the various activities accomplished in complying with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It gives account of the performance of the country, particularly Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales. It says that during the past five years, there have been major developments in governing policies in relation to children, and those changes are fully reflected in the report.
The report notes that developments on law and policy affecting children have served to reinforce the United Kingdom's compliance with the Convention over the past five years. But the timing and content of those developments have been dictated by the needs within the country, and those needs have not necessarily arisen in a pattern which follows the structure of the Convention itself.
It further notes that there are distinct cultural and traditional differences between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which in the case of Scotland and Northern Ireland extend to significant differences in the legal systems. This diversity of practice is underpinned and strengthened by the creation of the Scottish Parliament, the new Assembly in Northern Ireland, and the Welsh Assembly.

Introduction of Report
ALTHEA EFUNSHILE, Director of the Children and Young People's Unit at the Department for Education and Skill of the United Kingdom, highlighted the achievements made following the establishment of new structures to ensure a coordinated and holistic approach to the interest of the child in the development of policies and services in England, and before the devolved governments were in place to develop their own responses specific to the needs of children in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
She said that in England, the creation for the first time of the post of Minister for Children and Young People and the establishment of the cross-government Children and Young People's Unit was enabling the Government to look across the range of different policies affecting children's lives with a single consistent focus on the best interests of the child. The Unit was able to represent the United Kingdom in a range of international fora where children's and young people's issues were considered, but most importantly offered for the first time a dedicated government body to focus on its obligations under the Convention. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, there were comparable new structures at ministerial and official levels to offer an integrated approach to children's issues.
Ms. Efunshile continued to say that at the national and local levels, the Government was now building experience and expertise so that children and young people had opportunities to express their views freely and for their views to be taken into account in the development of policies and services. Within the Government itself, the officials were increasingly involving youth fora and young parliaments.
The Director said that non-governmental organizations had always played a vital role in the United Kingdom in delivering services for children and in representing their interests. Although the Government did not always agree with non-governmental organizations on every issue, NGOs across the United Kingdom played an increasingly important part in the development of strategies for children.
There was much more to be done, Ms. Efunshile said, adding that in England, the Government was developing for the first time an overarching strategy for children which would be published by the end of the year. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, there were also developing approaches to strategic coordination of services to improve outcome in the lives of all children and young people.

Experts' Questions on General Measures, Definition of the Child, and General Principles
The Committee Experts started raising questions on the first cluster of main subjects of general measures of implementation; definition of the child; and general principles.
An Expert asked about the process of power devolution to the various components of the United Kingdom, particularly concerning the implementation of the rights of the child; and the different definitions of the child in the legal systems of those entities. The Expert said that because of the different regimes in each entity, there should be a guarantee by the United Kingdom that the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which it was a State party, were complied with. She said that the right to education of adolescents in prison was not respected; and the measures to expel children from schools violated the right of children to education. The Committee had in the past recommended that the United Kingdom abolish corporal punishment in schools and in the family, which it did not do. The issue of corporal punishment should be given a second thought and the Government should take steps towards prohibiting its use.
Another Expert focused on coordination and how it was taking place in the United Kingdom among the different entities and government bodies. With regard to allocation of budget, the Expert said that children got quite a big amount of the total national budget. The report gave a good description of what the Government was doing against child poverty, but what was the amount of the budget dealing with child poverty? How many children lived in relative poverty? How was poverty defined? There was a report that there were 4 million children defined as relatively poor; and 3 million households were affected accordingly.
The Government should be commended for its efforts to overcome the situation of poverty through the provisions of funds to children and young people, the same Expert continued to say. What procedure was used during the process of privatization regarding knowledge of the provisions of the Convention by the private sector? She asked if the Government was prepared to withdraw some of the reservations it had made upon ratification of the Convention.
An Expert asked about the age for criminal responsibility, which was different in Scotland and England. Was the Government doing anything to reverse this situation?
Another Expert said that the majority of children in England and other parts of the United Kingdom did not know about the Convention. A high percentage of children and families should have knowledge about it. There was a lack of information concerning specific problems affecting children, such as suicide. Such information should be made available to the Committee on the basis of data collection.
An Expert also asked about the situation of poverty, which she said affected many children and adolescents. She wanted to know if the Government had mapped poverty to identify which members of the population were affected by it. She also wondered what measures were taken to reduce the number of discriminatory incidents affecting black children.

Delegation's Response
In response to the questions raised by the Committee's Experts, the members of the United Kingdom's delegation said that because of the traditional and legislative differences among the four nations -- England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland -- the implementation of children rights were also different. However, the policies and strategies on the rights of the child were similar. In addition, the monitoring and coordinating function, and overall responsibility of the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, remained in the hands of the Westminster Government.
The delegation said that in each national entity, there were governmental bodies dealing with children and young people. There were also policies and strategies to protect and promote the rights of the child. In all the national entities, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was a foundation for every action undertaken by the authorities with regard to child rights. In addition, a number of programmes were designed to promote the best interests of the child and young people.
Responding to Experts' comments that the report did not fully follow the guidelines of the Committee, the delegation said that the next one would be prepared in accordance with the guidelines. Concerning the incorporation of the provisions of the Convention into domestic legislation, the Government would do its best in that regard. The Government was drawing up policies and strategies which would enable the realization of child rights.
Asked about the overarching strategy for children, the delegation said that the strategy and much of the United Kingdom's Government activity for children was to deliver high quality services for children and young people. All four parts of the United Kingdom were developing strategic frameworks for children and young people.
On the question of corporal punishment and physical chastisement, the delegation said that there was a decline in the incidents of child death in the hands of parents or caretakers as a result of corporal punishment.

Questions by Experts on Civil Rights and Freedoms, Family Environment and Basic Health.
The Committee Experts focused their questions on the second cluster of the main subjects, which concerned civil and rights and freedoms; family environment and alternative care; and basic health and welfare.
An Expert asked about the continued use of rubber bullets by the police despite recommendations by a UN body to ban their use; about the right to demonstration; about training of police officers concerning child rights; and about the rights of homosexual, lesbian and heterosexual children and their rights to obtain information so that they felt free in the society by assuming their sexual orientation.
Another Expert said that she had the impression that a conservative approach was still reflected concerning children rights. She wanted to obtain more information about the legal consequences against the perpetrators of violence against children. The status of education should be upheld, and the amount of education provided to children should be compatible with their environment.

Response by Delegation
Concerning corporal punishment and violence, the Government was engaged in awareness-increasing programmes through the distribution of leaflets and other brochures to parents and persons involved in child care, the delegation said. The judicial and educational authorities were jointly designing policies and strategies to reduce incidents affecting children as a result of corporal punishment.
The phenomenon of child poverty in the United Kingdom was related to family unemployment, the delegation said. Since 1997, the real income of families had grown by 20 per cent. Between 1997 and 2001, the number of children in Great Britain living in households with low incomes had fallen. The Government had made substantial investments to reduce child poverty and social exclusion. The proportion of children living in "workless households" had fallen from 17.9 per cent in 1997 to 15.5 per cent in 2001.
Child labour was highly regulated and local authorities had to be satisfied with the working conditions of young workers in order to approve them, the delegation said. The Government prohibited the employment of children until the age of 13.
Concerning the situation of Travellers, the delegation said that local officials could at their discretion provide sites to be used by them. So far, 300 such authorizations had been issued by the authorities.
There were some ethnic minority children who were doing well in education, the delegation said. The Government was determined to focus on the educational achievements of each ethnic group in schools. Also, it was determined that universal qualities in education were achieved in schools. The disproportional rate of school expulsions of black students had been substantially reduced, although the number in the London area was still high.
Asylum seeking children were either assisted within their own families if they were accompanied, or in institutions if they arrived alone, the delegation said. There were welfare responses to the situation of unaccompanied children by local authorities.
With regard to self-esteem of children in institutions, the delegation said that generally, since the present Government had come into office, there had been a number of reviews made on ways to prevent problems involving children. For instance, the service for disabled children had been consolidated in one body for better coordination and for the promotion of service delivery. For the last five years, the focus of the present Government had been on improving education and the school system.
Asked about the use of plastic bullets, the delegation said that the last lethal incident was 13 years ago and since last year, safer plastic bullets had been introduced. They were exclusively used by the army and the police and were used under specific circumstances.

Questions by Experts on Basic Health and Special Protection Measures
The Committee Experts raised a number of questions under the main subject of basic health and welfare and special protection measures.
An Expert wondered why the United Kingdom's report or any non-governmental organization's report had failed to advocate for the prohibition of child labour. She said that the place of children should be in school. She commended the Government for ratifying International Labour Organization Conventions No. 138 and 182 with regard to minimum age of admission to employment and the worst forms of child labour.
Another Expert also asked questions on how to handle children law offenders; on the administration of the juvenile justice system, and the minimum age for criminal responsibilities; why the duration of child custody was long; and the condition in which children were imprisoned, involving stigmatization and punitive measures, among other things.
What measures had been taken to integrate disabled children into the society and to allow them to participate in the decision-making process in matters concerning them, an Expert asked. What was the number of disabled children kept in institutions? Although the number of deaths involving children had dropped in recent years, road accidents were on the rise causing child deaths and disabilities. The rate of breast-feeding was low in the United Kingdom; what nutritional formula was used to substitute breast-feeding? What was the extent of female genital mutilation? Was its practice legally prohibited?
Another Expert asked if the pattern of bullying in schools had changed since the Committee noted this violent aspect during the examination of the initial report of the United Kingdom. She also asked for further information on the destiny of students expelled from schools on a temporary or permanent basis.

Response by Delegation
Responding to the questions raised by Committee Experts, the delegation said that the Government had put together a comprehensive mechanism on good practices concerning the well-being and safety of working children. The Government had ratified ILO Conventions 138 and 182 on the minimum age for employment and the elimination of worst forms of child labour, respectively.
The delegation said that the introduction of the Children's Tax Credit and Working Families Tax Credit, and the elements of income-related benefits for children under 11 had increased by 85 per cent, in real terms. From 2003, the new Child Tax Credit would bring together all existing income-related benefits and tax credit support for children into a single source of income, providing financial support to families both in and out of work.
The implementation of the anti-terrorism act, which was recommended by the anti-terrorism committee of the Security Council, was under close scrutiny, the delegation said. The situation of children involved in terrorist activities would be given special attention.
Children between 16 and 18 were not considered as adults under the juvenile justice system as it was alluded to by one of the Experts, the delegation said. However, the minimum age for criminal responsibility was set at 10 years. Police reprimand or other corrective measures were applied to children between 10 and 13 years. However, when a child above 12 was implicated in repetitive offences, custodial measures might be necessary in some cases. A little more than 3,000 children were at present in juvenile establishments which were run by prison authorities. The mixing of child offenders with adult inmates had not been completely eliminated.
Disabled children were the Government's priority and a substantial amount of money had been spent on services concerning them, the delegation said. Next year, the amount would be increased. The Government has also made available financial assistance to disabled children living within the family. The number of disabled children living away from their families was not known.
The exclusion of a student from a school did not mean exclusion from education, the delegation said. The Government had designed a national behavioural strategy to assess the attitudes of children in school, including the pattern of bullying.
At the end of the discussion, the delegation said that the country's parliament will hold on 24 October a debate on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Preliminary Concluding Remarks by Committee Expert
JUDITH KARP, Committee Expert, thanked the members of the delegation for their very professional way of answering the Committee's questions; however that did not mean that the Experts agreed with all that was said. The United Kingdom should have a new vision of child rights in light with the peace agreement in Northern Ireland and human rights. The Government should use the maximum resources available to it to promote and protect child rights. The Committee would provide the Government with a list of concluding observations and recommendations before the end of its session.



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