The Children’s Commissioners for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales have today highlighted violations of children’s rights in a damning joint report, raising areas of grave concern – including poverty, mental health, and the attack on the Human Rights Act by the UK Government.
In their “report card” to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Children’s Commissioners Bruce Adamson, Koulla Yiasouma, and Rocio Cifuentes have warned that while progress has been made in some areas of children’s rights since their last report in 2016, there are urgent issues which must be addressed across a broad range of rights.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is the global expert body tasked with assessing States’ compliance with children’s rights. In their role as Independent Children’s Rights Institutions, Children’s Commissioners play a significant role in making sure the Committee is alerted to areas of concern.
All three Commissioners have reiterated calls to governments to do more to protect the rights of children subjected to living in poverty. This includes calls for the UK social security system to once again become a safety net for children.
