Timeline of Young People's Rights in The United Kingdom - 21st Century

21st Century

Timeline of 21st century events related to Children's Rights in the UK in chronological order
Date Parties Event Image
2000 UK Government The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 changed the age of consent for male homosexual sexual activities and defined the offence of Abuse of Trust, generally to protect 16 and 17 year olds from sexual advances, both homosexual and heterosexual, from those in positions of trust.
February 2000 Sir Ronald Waterhouse The report of an inquiry about abuse in Bryn Estyn and other children's homes in North Wales between 1974 and 1990 was released, which included a recommendation for creation of the post of Children's Commissioner to prevent such scandals in the future.
March 2000 Summerhill School wins Court Case Defended by the international human rights barrister, Sir Geoffrey Robertson QC, after three days at the Royal Courts of Justice, Summerhill won its right to continue to be based on children's rights. The DfES accepted its demands, expressed in a joint agreement. The agreement was voted on by the children from the school in the court room. This agreement accepted the right of children at Summerhill to control their own learning, and has been used by Home Educators as part of their legal fights with the government. Summerhill is now the most legally protected school in the country with a unique inspection process that is the first to include the voices of children, preceding the newly announced OFSTED plans to take account of students' views. Summerhill is the only school that has direct input into its inspections through legally appointed experts. Its children have continued to lobby for all children to have the rights they have, attending and lobbying at the UN Special Session on the Child (2002) and the UNESCO conference of Education Ministers when a student spoke during the closing ceremony.
8 September 2000 United Nations The Millennium Development Declaration was signed by 189 countries, setting the Millennium Development Goals as targets for monitoring progress.
November 2000 Murder of Damilola Taylor Research into the backgrounds of four teenagers accused of murdering Damilola Taylor found that some had been excluded from school, all had substantial histories of serious offending and antisocial behaviour, and had come to police attention before they were 10.
2001 Wales Children's Commissioner for Wales was appointed.
2001 Sarah's Law Following the abduction and murder of eight year old Sarah Payne, the News of the World newspaper spearheaded a controversial campaign for the government to allow controlled access to the Sex Offenders Register, so that parents with young children could know if a child sex-offender was living in their area. The campaign derived from the USA's so-called Megan's Law, operating in honour of murder victim Megan Kanka and allowing publication of a sex offender's photograph and address.
2002 UK Government The Care Standards Act reformed the law relating to the inspection and regulation of various care institutions including children's homes, and created the new post of Director of Children's Rights with the power to investigate individual cases.
October 2002 The UK committee responsible for monitoring the implementation of the UNCRC in the UK issued its second concluding observations on the UK's progress.
2003 Northern Ireland The Commissioner for Children and Young People for Northern Ireland was appointed.
2003 UK Government The Sexual Offences Act 2003 lowered the age of consent for certain sexual activities from 18 to 16 in England and Wales. Section 45 defines a "child" for the purposes of the Protection of Children Act 1978 as a person under 18 years, rather than under 16 years, of age.

Despite a previous "deep lack of understanding" of incidents of abuse in children's homes run by Islington, Margaret Hodge is appointed Children's Minister in June 2003.
29 January 2003 Victoria Climbie The Laming report on the murder of Victoria Climbie recommended the creation of the post of Children's Commissioner and generated legislation known as Every Child Matters. A revised Children Act based on Every Child Matters was enacted in 2004.
December 2003 Sir Michael Bichard After the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, the Bichard report severely criticised the Chief Constable of Humberside Police for ordering the destruction of criminal records of child abusers as required under the Protection of Children Act 1999. A revised registration scheme for people working with children and vulnerable adults was recommended. The report also revealed that investigation into the murders was severely compromised by involvement of some of the police officers in child pornography, or were Operation Ore suspects.
2004 Zahid Mubarek Inquiry After a long legal battle by the family, the Law Lords ordered Home Secretary David Blunkett to hold an Inquiry into Zahid's murder. Sentenced to 3 months imprisonment in Feltham Young Offenders' Institution for stealing razors and interfering with a motor vehicle, the 19 year-old was murdered by his cell-mate on the eve of returning home in 2000. The report's findings are a 'devastating indictment' of the prison system, to which teenagers are routinely consigned.
2004 Scotland The Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People was appointed, with Children's Hearings and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration as significant components of children's rights in Scotland.
2005 England The Children's Commissioner for England was appointed.
September 2005 United Nations General Assembly A Special Summit on the Millennium Development Goals reviewed progress since 2000 on the Goals, which included halving the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015.
November 2005 Ampleforth College A monk admitted to 20 incidents of child abuse at a leading Catholic boarding school. At least six paedophiles were active for decades following a decision by former Abbot Basil Hume not to call in police during his tenure, which commenced in 1963.
March 2006 British Army An independent review commissioned by the Minister for Armed Forces into circumstances surrounding the deaths of four soldiers recruited under the age of 18 at Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut between 1995 and 2002, concludes that the deaths were self-inflicted, despite a catalogue of allegations of misconduct at the relevant times. The call for a public enquiry is rejected.
2006 End Child Poverty Following the Make Poverty History march and Live 8 events, NGOs launch a coalition to secure the Government's 1999 pledge to halve the numbers of children living below the poverty line by 2010 and eliminate child poverty by 2020.
February 2006 Howard League for Penal Reform Publication of Lord Carlile's inquiry into the treatment of children in penal custody. The 47 recommendations include:
  • severely restricting physical intervention; stopping the Strip searching of children; and an end to prison segregation.
2007 Jersey Social Worker Simon Bellwood was dismissed after making a complaint about a "Dickensian" system in a secure unit where children as young as 11 were routinely locked up for 24 hours or more, in solitary confinement. Police subsequently commenced investigations at the site of former children's home Haut de la Garenne.
July 2007 UK Government The third report on progress is issued to the UN Committee responsible for monitoring implementation of the UNCRC.
2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 The Act was extended to apply to prisoners and young offenders killed or injured whilst in custody, with effect from April 2008. From monitoring and analysis of deaths in custody, NGO INQUEST propose an independent, overarching standing commission on custodial deaths, with statutory powers to address the breadth of social and political issues that arise when these deaths occur.

November 2007 Scottish Government Following publication of the Shaw report "Historical Abuse Systemic Review: Residential Schools and Children's Homes in Scotland 1950 to 1995", the Scottish Government proposed a truth and reconciliation forum for victims of historic abuse. The discussion paper named "Acknowledgement and Accountability" will be published 2008/9.
9 June 2008 United Kingdom The Children's Commissioner for Wales, Children's Commissioner for England, Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People and the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Northern Ireland jointly report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in preparation for the 30th Anniversary of the International Year of the Child. The remit of individual UK Commissioners differ in the devolved administrations, however the first report by federal Commissioners is unanimous in calling for incorporation of UNCRC into domestic legislation and a ban on police indefinitely keeping children's DNA on record. Amongst 100 recommendations are: increasing the age of criminal responsibility; a reduction in the number of children in custody; and a public inquiry into the deaths of 30 children in custody over the past 10 years. UK's main NGO's including UNICEF and CRAE also attended the Pre Sessional Working Group with the UN Committee. 12 Children and Young People represented England as well.
November 2008 Death of Baby P After details of the tragic life and death of the 17 month-old at the hands of his parent and carers, whilst on the 'At Risk' register of Haringey Social Services were revealed, Ofsted confirmed that between April 2007 and August 2008, 282 children died of neglect, abuse or in the care system. Of that total, 72 died in accidents, stabbings or shootings while in foster or residential care, while the remaining 210 died of abuse or neglect at the hands of their families. This means that 12 children are killed by some form of abuse each month.
1 May 2012 Protection of Freedoms Act Part 1, Chapter 2 gives a child the right to prevent their biometric information (e.g. fingerprints) from being collected by an educational establishment and requires the processing of biometric information to be discontinued should the child object at any time. The right of a child to refuse the collection of their biometric information stands regardless of whether parental consent is offered or not. It also requires one parent to provide consent for the processing of biometric data and if any parent is to object to such collection of data the data processing must be discontinued.

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