Criticism
The Children's Commissioner attracted controversy by describing the murder of James Bulger as "unpleasant", and commenting that his killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, ought never to have been prosecuted, and that the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales ought to be raised to twelve, from the age of ten.
The UK implemented the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child post ratification in 1991. According to the United Nations Committee's concluding observations in 1995:
| “ | The Committee is concerned about the apparent insufficiency of measures taken to ensure the implementation of the general principles of the Convention, namely the provisions of its articles 2, 3, 6 and 12. In this connection, the Committee observes in particular that the principle of the best interests of the child appears not to be reflected in legislation in such areas as health, education and social security which have a bearing on the respect for the rights of the child. | ” |
| — United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, First Concluding Observations |
The Committee's concluding observations in 2002 were also highly critical and led to the Children and Young People's Unit taking on responsibility to co-ordinate the implementation of the Convention across the UK, but was subsequently disbanded in Autumn 2003.
In the hierarchy of treaty terminology, a State's undertaking to "ensure" a right denotes the highest possible obligation - requiring more than mere non-interference with a designated right and requiring the State to execute positive legislative administrative and legal measures as necessary, to make sure the specified right can be effectively exercised. The Convention therefore has the status of International Law, using the word "ensure" 32 times in the substantive body of provisions and is not derogated in any way.
Although a lynchpin of UNCRC provisions, the government strenuously resisted appointment of a Children's Commissioner on the basis that newly created agents were sufficient e.g. Minister for Children and Families and the Director of Children's Rights. After several tragedies and the death of Victoria Climbie, the Laming report of January 2003 recommended creation of the post. However, the then Children’s Minister Margaret Hodge won her battle to have five references to the word “rights” removed from the description of the role. She also altered the position from promoting and safeguarding the rights of children in England to promoting awareness of their views. When the Commissioner for England was appointed in 2005, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children commented:
| “ | the England Children Commissioner office does not meet the European standards set out for all European Commissioners.... the NSPCC believes that the Commissioner’s remit and responsibilities should be more closely tied to the UNCRC... which the Government ratified in 1991, granting all children a comprehensive set of economic, social, civil and political rights | ” |
| — National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Briefing |
In June 2008, all four Children's Commissioners in the devolved administrations issued a joint report to the UN Committee, uniting in the call for incorporation of UNCRC into domestic legislation. The third set of concluding observations in Autumn 2008 will indicate whether there is a need for a Children's Commissioner with 'teeth and hobnailed boots' in England, to herald the 30th Anniversary of the International Year of the Child.
Read more about this topic: Children's Commissioner For England
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“Homoeopathy is insignificant as an art of healing, but of great value as criticism on the hygeia or medical practice of the time.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... criticism ... makes very little dent upon me, unless I think there is some real justification and something should be done.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“Unless criticism refuses to take itself quite so seriously or at least to permit its readers not to, it will inevitably continue to reflect the finicky canons of the genteel tradition and the depressing pieties of the Culture Religion of Modernism.”
—Leslie Fiedler (b. 1917)