Our new Prime Minister must act to safeguard the rights of children

Despite some progress to embed children’s rights across government, the response to the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated how children’s rights and voices are regularly overlooked in government decision-making.  

As Liz Truss, our new Prime Minister, settles into No 10 and shifts her focus to governing the country, we set out what she must do to protect and promote the rights of children and young people. Next year, the UK government will be examined by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on its child rights record so there’s no time to lose.  

It’s vital that the government protects the rights and entitlements that children already have, including those in the Human Rights Act. However, the Bill of Rights Bill – also known as the Rights Removal Bill – made clear that Boris Johnson’s government intended to repeal and replace the Human Rights Act which has provided important protections for some of our most vulnerable children such as children in care, child witnesses, children in custody, and refugee children over the past two decades. The widespread concern about the impact these changes could have on children is reflected in the fact that nearly 50 organisations signed up to our second reading briefing on the Bill, which highlighted the devastating impact that it would have on children's rights.