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11-16-2009, 08:48 AM
Britain's criminalising of children breaches their rights, says reportUK criticised for failing to protect young as more Asbos and custodial sentences are issued
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Tracy McVeigh and Mark Townsend The Observer, Sunday 15 November 2009 Article history
Britain is punishing its children with custody orders and Asbos, failing to keep them safe and systematically breaching the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a major report has found.
In a damning assessment of how the UK is looking after some of its most vulnerable people, the report found that Britain is the most punitive nation in Europe, that its child protection services are "not fit for purpose" and that arrogance in some local authorities has created a "postcode lottery" of help available for children in need.
The Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) – an umbrella organisation whose members include the NSPCC, the Children's Society, Barnardo's, Action for Children, Save the Children and the National Children's Bureau – is publishing its report next week to coincide with the 20th anniversary on Friday of the signing of the UN convention.
"This explodes the popular myth that the British are child-friendly," said Dr Mike Lindsay, national co-ordinator of the alliance. "There is a real sense of people feeling that children are 'getting away with it', when in fact we are a more punitive society than ever before. We punish children through the courts for things that would in the past have been seen as pranks.
"We had six children given an Asbo for climbing a tree in Gloucester. We seem to have an innate element in our culture that seems to want to criminalise and punish everyone."
He said in the 20 years since the signing of the UN convention, the UK's breaches had steadily increased. In 2002 the UK was judged to be breaching 78 of the guidelines on caring for children. In 2008 this had risen to 124. While central government could be seen to be trying hard to address the issue, Lindsay said it was the piecemeal approach of courts and local authorities that was creating the real scandals, locking up more children than ever before.
"You could characterise the government approach as being one of political and selective implementation," Lindsay said. "There are things in the convention that are not politically agreed with. But when the convention was launched in 1989 we had 330 children under the age of 17 in custody. In 2009 that figure is 2,200."
The CRAE is calling for an overhaul of the juvenile justice system which, it says, is not prioritising the best interests of children and which urgently needs to stop locking children up, making custody a "last resort". As part of its concerns, the alliance also lists the prolonged detention of asylum seekers' children. A separate report published in March this year, by Refugee and Migrant Justice, found that the UK Borders Agency had been breaching its own guidelines for keeping children and young asylum seekers safe and making sure they had legal representation.
"There are pockets of good practice," Lindsay said. "Some government departments are very good at consulting children and, to be fair, this government has been good with bringing in policies to try to redress the balance, but it has failed to ensure local implementation. There are enormous inconsistencies across the country. The approach in some authorities is unsophisticated and parochial, almost verging on the arrogant sometimes."
He added: "It's telling that the Laming Report, supposedly the overview of child protection in England, questioned everyone but children themselves, making it hugely flawed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/15/punitive-britain-asbo-children-un
Buzz up!
Digg it
Tracy McVeigh and Mark Townsend The Observer, Sunday 15 November 2009 Article history
Britain is punishing its children with custody orders and Asbos, failing to keep them safe and systematically breaching the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a major report has found.
In a damning assessment of how the UK is looking after some of its most vulnerable people, the report found that Britain is the most punitive nation in Europe, that its child protection services are "not fit for purpose" and that arrogance in some local authorities has created a "postcode lottery" of help available for children in need.
The Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) – an umbrella organisation whose members include the NSPCC, the Children's Society, Barnardo's, Action for Children, Save the Children and the National Children's Bureau – is publishing its report next week to coincide with the 20th anniversary on Friday of the signing of the UN convention.
"This explodes the popular myth that the British are child-friendly," said Dr Mike Lindsay, national co-ordinator of the alliance. "There is a real sense of people feeling that children are 'getting away with it', when in fact we are a more punitive society than ever before. We punish children through the courts for things that would in the past have been seen as pranks.
"We had six children given an Asbo for climbing a tree in Gloucester. We seem to have an innate element in our culture that seems to want to criminalise and punish everyone."
He said in the 20 years since the signing of the UN convention, the UK's breaches had steadily increased. In 2002 the UK was judged to be breaching 78 of the guidelines on caring for children. In 2008 this had risen to 124. While central government could be seen to be trying hard to address the issue, Lindsay said it was the piecemeal approach of courts and local authorities that was creating the real scandals, locking up more children than ever before.
"You could characterise the government approach as being one of political and selective implementation," Lindsay said. "There are things in the convention that are not politically agreed with. But when the convention was launched in 1989 we had 330 children under the age of 17 in custody. In 2009 that figure is 2,200."
The CRAE is calling for an overhaul of the juvenile justice system which, it says, is not prioritising the best interests of children and which urgently needs to stop locking children up, making custody a "last resort". As part of its concerns, the alliance also lists the prolonged detention of asylum seekers' children. A separate report published in March this year, by Refugee and Migrant Justice, found that the UK Borders Agency had been breaching its own guidelines for keeping children and young asylum seekers safe and making sure they had legal representation.
"There are pockets of good practice," Lindsay said. "Some government departments are very good at consulting children and, to be fair, this government has been good with bringing in policies to try to redress the balance, but it has failed to ensure local implementation. There are enormous inconsistencies across the country. The approach in some authorities is unsophisticated and parochial, almost verging on the arrogant sometimes."
He added: "It's telling that the Laming Report, supposedly the overview of child protection in England, questioned everyone but children themselves, making it hugely flawed."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/15/punitive-britain-asbo-children-un