Hard-hitting Joint Report To UN Committee

Thursday 21 August 08

NORTHERN Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, Patricia Lewsley, will join the other UK's Children's Commissioners as they tell the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child the state of children's rights across the country.

You can find her video to the left and her fellow commissioners videos here.

Ms Lewsley and her fellow commissioners will deliver a hard-hitting joint report in Geneva on the performance of the UK Government and Devolved Administrations, which highlights the most serious breaches of children's rights.
The report launched today (Monday) outlines how children's rights across the UK have worsened in some aspects, and in others there has been no change since the last time the UN Committee reported on the Government's children's rights record in 2002.

The report identifies eighteen areas of common concern across the UK regions, including in Northern Ireland:
* Ongoing methods to tackle child poverty
* Persistent inequalities experienced by children
* Retention of innocent children's DNA by PSNI
* Discrimination against various groups of children such as disabled and children from minority groups

Alongside these concerns is a series of over 100 recommendations, all fundamental in assisting the Government to realise fully children's rights across the United Kingdom.

Since the UK ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1991, the government has been obliged to submit progress reports to the UN Committee every five years, outlining how the state is fulfilling its commitment to children and young people. This year, for the first time, the UK's four children's commissioners have joined forces to submit a joint report to the UN Committee on their experiences of monitoring how the state treats children and young people.

""I'm looking forward to travelling to Geneva with my counterparts to discuss the findings of our report and to work with the government," said Ms Lewsley. "We know that there are many issues that need to be addressed by our Government - not least the fact that they need to listen to children and young people."

After hearing from the Children's Commissioners in Geneva on 11th June, the Committee will send representatives to the UK to examine first hand how the country has embraced the Convention. In September 2008, a government delegation will appear before the Committee to be questioned on its implementation of children's rights before the Committee drafts its observations. The Committee's report will set out its assessment of progress in implementing the Convention in the UK and it will hold the Government accountable through clear recommendations.