We are wrong over child rights

**Think back to what you were like when you were ten. What hobbies did you enjoy the most? Which school subject was the best? Where was your favourite place in the world? I’m sure you had an opinion on this. I for one enjoyed dancing, going to the local oratorio or youth club and playing self-invented Harry Potter games in my small Italian village in the mountains. Although I have changed a little since then, I knew what I wanted. I knew what I found uncomfortable and what upset me. **

Yet some governments don’t seem to agree that children are independent beings. They appear to think that children are under adults’ control and don’t know what is best for them. This view wouldn’t mean much did it not dominate the mindset of politicians, judges and social workers in this country. It has meant that some areas of child rights have been neglected because children’s views and wellbeing is viewed as of secondary importance and often overlooked in favour of defence, health and immigration.

{{quote When vulnerable children arrive on our shores having fled from conflict and poverty, they do not receive a compassionate welcome; more often than not they are interviewed alone without a legal representative or an appointed guardian }}

The treatment of child asylum seekers, for example, is not what you would expect in a democratic nation. When vulnerable children arrive on our shores having fled from conflict and poverty, they don’t receive a compassionate welcome. More often than not they are interviewed alone without a legal representative or an appointed guardian.

The worst, though, are detention centres, which I can only describe as state-sponsored child imprisonment. Research carried out by _Medical Justice_ show that children suffer from anxiety, witness violent incidents and a few are so unhappy they have considered taking their own lives. No one child should be made to feel this way, never mind dozens. Two years ago Nick Clegg pledged to shut down immigration detention centres, but these plans have so far come to nothing. Surprised? Clearly to our government, immigration control is more important than a child’s best interests, and yet we think other nations should follow our moral principles?

Another notable failure in relation to child rights has been child poverty and inequality. Having enough money to eat three meals a day is not a privilege, it is a right. Governments legally need to ensure that children have the best quality of life possible. Between 1991 and 2008 the percentage of children in poverty decreased from 31% to 30%, partly thanks to Blair’s campaign to tackle child poverty.

Yet pensioner poverty fell by 16% from 1991 to 2008. This shows that we have the capability to make life better for many children in the UK, and all that is needed is political willingness. But this needs to be acted on now. Government cuts in education and early years support will affect children drastically.

The provision of child rights in the UK appears even more inadequate when compared to other European nations such as France. Compared to the UK, France has a more positive record in respect to the implementation of child rights. France has established many individual laws relating to child protection and divorce cases, for example. These are meant to guarantee that the child has an opportunity to express their own views in any proceedings and the child’s best interests must be considered at all times. Legislation might not always be effective on its own, but it is evidence of a country taking child rights seriously rather than brushing them aside with little thought: something we need to learn from.

Improvement is only possible if we publically condemn our failure in certain areas of child rights. We have the legal means, the institutions and the resources to do more for children in the UK, but first of all we must change the paternalistic and controlling attitudes towards children which are expressed by the government and the media. At the end of the day, I don’t want to live in a nation where the most vulnerable are mistreated or given minimal protection. There is an old saying that goes ‘judge a society by how it treats its children’. If so, the UK needs to take a lot more action and fast.