The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child published its concluding observations for the UK on Friday 3 October 2008. The Concluding Observations are made by the Committee following the report from the Governments, Children’s Commissioners, Young People and NGOs about the progress on implementing the convention.

Its recommendations include:

• The prohibition of all corporal punishment in the family, including smacking
• Raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 in Wales and England and eight in Scotland
• Establishing the principle that detention should be used as a measure of last resort for children in conflict with the law
• Taking action to address the intolerance and inappropriate characterization of children in society and in the media
• Regulating children’s participation in TV programs particularly reality programmes
• Reconsidering the use of ASBOs and mosquito devices
• Implementing fully the International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes
• Ensuring that the detention of asylum-seeking and migrant children is used only as a last resort

The report can be downloaded from the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.