The UK government ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. Twenty-five years on, the Committee which monitors implementation of the Convention has expressed serious concerns on a large number of issues. The Committee on the Rights of the Child examined the UK’s record in May and published its concluding observations earlier this month, on 12 July. This was the fourth time the UK has been examined, and the Committee expressed regret that some of its previous recommendations have not been followed up.

In its report, the Committee expressed concern that many children continue to experience discrimination and social stigmatization, including through the media, for example: Roma, gypsy and traveller children; children of other ethnic minorities; disabled children; children in care; migrant, asylum-seeking and refugee children; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children. In response, the Committee recommended that the UK strengthens its awareness-raising and other preventive activities against discrimination and stigmatization.

The Committee also expressed serious concern that the rate of child poverty remains high, disproportionately affects disabled children, children living in a household with a disabled person, households with many children and children belonging to ethnic minority groups, and affects children in Wales and Northern Ireland the most. It urged the government to set up clear accountability mechanisms for the eradication of child poverty, including by re-establishing concrete targets with a set time frame and measurable indicators. The Committee also expressed concern that the number of children with mental health needs is increasing and recommended that the UK regularly collects comprehensive data on child mental health and rigorously invests in child and adolescent mental health services.

With reference to its general comment No. 8 (2006) on children’s right to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment, the Committee urged the UK to prohibit as a matter of priority all corporal punishment in the family, including through the repeal of all legal defences such as “reasonable chastisement”.

With regard to education, the Committee expressed concern that substantial inequalities persist in educational attainment, particularly for boys, children living in poverty, Roma, gypsy and traveller children, disabled children, children in care and newcomer children. In particular, it expressed concern that disabled children or those with labels of “special educational needs” are often subject to the practice of “informal” exclusion or “taught off-site” to control their behaviour. It also expressed concern that relationships and sexuality education is not mandatory in all schools, its contents and quality varies depending on the school, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children do not have access to accurate information on their sexuality.

The Committee expressed its continued concern that many disabled children are still placed in special schools or special units in mainstream schools and that many school buildings and facilities are not made fully accessible to disabled children; it also expressed concern that many disabled children do not see that their views are given due weight in making personal decisions in their life, including choice of support and future.

The Committee drew attention to its general comment no. 9 (2006) on the rights of disabled children and urged the UK to adopt a human rights-based approach to disability, to set up a national strategy for the inclusion of disabled children and, specifically, to set up comprehensive measures to further develop inclusive education, to ensure that inclusive education is given priority over the placement of children in separate institutions or classes and to make mainstream schools fully accessible to disabled children.