What next for children’s rights in Wales?

Rhian Croke, Coordinator of the Wales UNCRC Monitoring

Group, July 5th 2011.

Introduction

Today I am speaking on behalf of the Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group that

was established in 2002 just prior to the 2nd periodic reporting process to the

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Wales UNCRC Monitoring

Group is a national alliance of non-governmental and academic institutions

principally tasked with preparing the NGO alternative report to the UN

Committee on the Rights of the Child.

However, since 2002, the UNCRC Monitoring Group has increased in size

and strength resulting in an increasing engagement of agencies developing

their understanding and other partners’ understanding of the importance of

the UNCRC and also developing an important constructive yet critical

collective voice that monitors the Welsh Government and UK Government’s

obligation to realise the rights of children. This can be seen with the influence

of the 2006 Group report Righting the wrongs: the reality of children’s rights in

Wales NGO and Stop, Look, Listen: the road to realising children’s rights in

Wales official NGO Alternative report to the Committee. Both reports,

reported against the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Concluding

Observations 2002.

The dynamics of the CRC reporting process and the UK Concluding

Observations anchored in the authority of the international human rights

framework have become an unparalleled tool for stimulating discussion in

Wales and in exerting pressure on government to fully address the

Convention on the Rights of the Child and make changes to legislation and

policy.

Since 2002, strategic policy making in Wales has become increasingly

underpinned by the CRC. 1 The Group and their partners have been key to

advising and influencing the Welsh Government to develop effective

structures to support a children’s rights perspective across the machinery of

Government.

Perhaps this can most clearly be seen when after almost a decade of

committed lobbying by the UNCRC Monitoring Group, in advocating that

Government in Wales be made accountable to children in the realisation of

1 Examples of WAG policy underpinned by the CRC, National Service Framewok for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (NSF), National Youth Offending Strategy, Sexual Health and Well-being Strategy, Rights to Action, Extending Entitlement and Fairer Future for Our Children.

their rights, the then First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, announced the possibility

of embedding the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of

the Child into law on behalf of Welsh children. The Group grasped on this

opportunity advising on how a Measure should be best developed and then

lobbying and advising proactively throughout the consultation period and

legislative passage of the Measure in 2010.

Children’s rights breaches in Wales

However, it is important at this juncture to recognise that there are still

challenges in realising children’s human rights and the current reality of

children’s experience falls well short of what they should expect in a

prosperous and developed nation.

It is completely inadequate that 1 in 3 children (36% of children in Wales) are

living in poverty (household 60 % below the median income), that poor kids

are 5 times less likely to have access to a safe outdoor play space, that

Gypsy Traveller children are described as the “most at risk” group in the

health system by the British Medical Association, that looked after children

have considerably lower outcomes than their peers, that a Barnardo's recent

report said it is aware of 2,756 child victims of sexual exploitation offences

such as grooming and trafficking, that young people in Wales (aged 16-29)

are significantly more likely to be a victim of discrimination, harassment or

victimisation than residents over 40, that disabled children are often

distressed that they are not taken seriously and have trouble accessing

services that they desperately require.

Also we must not forget that children can still be legal hit and hurt by adults,

that asylum seeking children are still being detained and often deported back

to unsafe countries and the UK still has the highest rate of incarcerating

children in Western Europe. These are non-devolved areas of policy but we

still need to consider how we can effectively assert our influence to make

changes for children in relation to these areas of children’s rights breaches.

All of the above is why we still must strive in Wales to institutionalise and to

mainstream children’s human rights, to recognise that children like adults

should be acknowledged as human beings and holders of human rights, in the

here and now. We need to keep on perfecting the structures that will make

this a reality.

What next for children’s rights in Wales?

This is where the radical and progressive development of the accession of the

Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 presents us

with a critical opportunity for taking the embedding of a children’s human

rights based approach further. If implemented effectively it can help

Government to develop a better holistic and joined up understanding of

children’s human rights and their implementation. It presents us with the

opportunity of creating a robust legal accountability mechanism that does not

exist anywhere else in the UK for the protection of children’s civil, political,

social, economic and cultural rights. It is a ground breaking opportunity!

In order for the legislation to be a success, it can not sit on the face of the

statute book, its implementation needs to be effectively resourced (both

human and financial). This is where an understanding of the Convention itself

and an understanding of the supportive texts and jurisprudence of the

Committee on the Rights of the Child become so important. In the words of

Jane Williams and Simon Hoffman from Swansea University School of Law,

an interpretative community needs to be established to support Government

to comply with the principle of ‘due regard’, and where the formal involvement

(recognised by the legislation itself) of the Children’ Commissioner for Wales,

the Voluntary sector and children and young people themselves become so

critical in the offering advice, capacity building and support on interpretation of

what compliance with the articles of the CRC actually means in the Welsh

context.

The Measure is designed to promote proactive behaviour by the government

rather than to confer a reactive individual remedy for a rights violation.

Compliance with the duty will involve ensuring adequate internal controls,

education (in particular of civil servants) data collection and monitoring,

impact assessments - of precisely the kind urged by the UN Committee that

we have referred to already this evening the general measures of

implementation. External controls then come in the form of public law

challenges to the legality of government action, administrative complaints,

inspection, investigation by commissioners, audit and parliamentary scrutiny

processes (Williams J, 2011).

Returning now to the other general measures of implementation with are

integrally interwoven with the successful implementation of the

measure. We need:

Robust National Action Plan with ownership for it across Welsh

Government, Local Authorities and Public Bodies

As was recognised throughout the CRC 2008 reporting process, there are

some great policies and strategies, but there is still a significant gap between

policy and implementation. Clear action is now required. The Welsh

Government has made a good start, but the current action plan needs to be

reviewed to have a clearer monitoring framework with clear outcomes for

children and young people. Most critically the action plan must be delivered in

partnership with local authorities and other public bodies, the Welsh

Government cannot deliver change for children alone, the delivery agents of

children’s rights must take responsibility and work in partnership.

Coordinated Government

We have seen some slippage in Wales with regards to this in recent times. It

is critical that we ensure that there are well-resourced structures driving the

effective coordination and monitoring of the CRC implementation across

Government. Before we had a Minister for Children sitting in the senior

Minister’s portfolio, now we have a Deputy Minister with a much wider brief,

this role deserves to be given more authority with clear responsibility for CRC

implementation. The Cabinet Committee for children and young people needs

to be strengthened and tasked with effectively overseeing the implementation

of the CRC. There has been some budget cutting in relation to civil servant

capacity in relation to rights implementation, this is also not acceptable, there

needs to be a cross-cutting children’s rights unit within WG with adequate

authority and resources.

Alike to Welsh Government, coordinated Government for children needs to

also be a part of the remit of local authorities approach to corporate

governance. CRC accountability needs to be within all job descriptions.

Policy and guidance for staff should be developed to show how they can

incorporate a children’s human rights approach in their working practices and

children’s rights objectives and targets should be incorporated into

performance management arrangements, including SMART targets in

divisional business plans. Finally local authorities need to ensure that senior

management are designated the clear role of coordinating CRC

implementation.

In relation to scrutiny of Welsh Minister decisions and policies, the National

Assembly for Children and Young People and other National Assembly

Committee’s need to ensure they scrutinise the implementation of the national

action plan on children’s rights, the implementation of the Concluding

Observations 2008 and also develop their accountability role in scrutinising

that Minister’s decisions and policies are in compliance with the Rights of

Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure.

At local authority level scrutiny committees should also be taking on the role

of scrutinising local authority cabinet decision making to determine whether it

is compliant with the CRC.

Children’s rights budgeting

Again it is positive to see that Wales are seen to be the leader in relation to

Children’s Budgeting, and transparently demonstrating the proportion of

expenditure on children.

Transparent budgeting is now more critical than ever in these times of fiscal

austerity, if Government can demonstrate that it is fulfilling its article 4

obligation to spend to the ‘maximum extent of its available resources’ on the

fulfilment of children’s rights then there will be no need for the non-

governmental community to take legal challenge under the new legislation in

relation to Government complying with article 4.

Now it is time to continue to improve the necessary systems to enable the

routine analysis of all Government spending in all of its future budgets as well

ensuring that the planning and reporting process makes better links between

budgets and outcomes for children and young people. This should also be

occurring at local authority level.

Children’s rights impact assessments

One of the best ways of scrutinising and embedding the CRC in decision

making is to use the tool of Children’s Rights Impact Assessments, which

foster a process of regular proofing of policy, legislation, budgetary decisions

and decision making for their impact on children and compliance with the

CRC. It is the starting point of a systematic children’s rights perspective in

working and decision making processes for activities by which children and

young people are affected. Up to this point Welsh Government has not used

this tool although impact assessments have been carried out in relation to

sustainability, equality and the Welsh language scheme, but it appears that

most positively they are currently in the process of commissioning a

contractor to develop such a tool. Also of interest at the local authority level

Cardiff Local Authority are currently researching the best model of children’s

rights impact assessments to use to embed the CRC into their own decision

making processes.

Data collection

With regards to Government having an accurate understanding of children’s

lives and how to improve on outcomes for children, WG does deserve to be

congratulated for its National Children and Young People Well-being monitor

– the consistent collection of this data is critical to Government making

appropriate decisions that are in the best interests of children and young

people across Wales. The second monitor issued in 2011 can also be

commended because it includes children's views on their lives for the first time

supporting the human rights perspective that children should be recognised

as the experts on their own lives and their experience brought to bear on

policy making. It obviously could be improved to include further disaggregated

data and children’s rights indicators however; it is a positive collation of

statistics against the seven core aims that understands that children and

young people’s well-being is dependent on a myriad of factors.

Raising awareness of children’s rights

I am not going to go into any detail as Louise has touched on some of the

positive developments in relation to article 42 (raising awareness of the CRC)

implementation in Wales, however I just want to reinforce just how critical the

promotion of knowledge and understanding of the CRC and a CRC based

approach is to successful implementation of the CRC in Wales. As the UN

Committee itself has stated

“if the adults around children… do not understand the implications of the

Convention, and above all its confirmation of the equal status of children as

subjects of rights, it is most unlikely that the rights set out in the Convention

will be realised”.

What is now required is for Government to produce a comprehensive strategy

to promote knowledge and understanding of the CRC in Wales, which clear

directives for professional bodies to incorporate the CRC into their curricula

and occupational standards, that all professionals working with and for

children should be receiving statutory, pre and post qualifying comprehensive

and on-going training on the CRC and the CRC should be taught in school.

Schedule 5 of the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure

should offer significant opportunities for further progressing much of the

above.

Next steps for the UNCRC Monitoring Group

Finally, the Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group will continue their role to monitor

and hold Government to account to implement the CRC. The key priorities for

the group leading up to reporting to the UN Committee in 2014 will be to

carrying out a cycle of rolling reporting against the Concluding Observations

2008 and the National Action Plan on Children’s Rights, holding seminars and

encouraging dialogue with Government, producing reports on where the

current shortfalls are in terms of children’s rights breaches and holding them

to account to respond to them.

The group is also determined to support and influence the implementation of

the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure, continuing to act

as critical friend and offering support through capacity building and

interpretation on the CRC. Additionally the important role and function of the

Article 42 sub-group of the monitoring group will continue the dialogue with

Government and professionals on the best way to promote knowledge and

understanding of the CRC across Wales.

The international community are currently watching the progress of Wales in

relation to the general measures of implementation of the CRC with great

anticipation, let us continue to surprise them by working in partnership and

harnessing all opportunities to embed a human rights based approach to

children and young people.