Solitary confinement

In a list published by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 29 October, the UK government is asked to state the number of children in our rich country who are using food banks, how many have been subject to 50,000 volt electric shocks through tasers and how many children have been subject to prison solitary confinement.

On this latter question, it will be interesting to see how ministers attempt to give a dignified explanation for the extension of prison governor powers to segregate children. Prior to 16 October, a child could be held in solitary confinement for up to three days, after which the law required authorisation from the Justice Secretary. This has been changed to 42 days, a period equivalent to the whole of the school summer holidays.

Ministers are also asked to explain whether the rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) are protected through domestic law. Successive governments have resisted making the entire convention part of our own law, despite repeated recommendations from the UN Committee. In July, Ministers said they were committed to giving due consideration to the treaty when developing new policy and legislation; this was a pledge first made by the coalition government in 2010. International law is meant to be complied with, of course, so simply thinking about it is not enough. And this is where our country’s approach to children’s rights becomes even more embarrassing.

Last month, the Prime Minister erased the reference to international law and treaty obligations from the ministerial code. Since 1997, the code had reminded ministers of their “overarching duty” to comply with international law. The deletion has prompted Rights Watch UK to begin legal proceedings to try to get the text reinstated. Anyone looking to be inspired can cast their eyes across the Irish Sea. Two weeks ago, Ireland enacted legislation, aptly called the Children First Act 2015, making it the twentieth EU country to remove the legal defence for corporal punishment in the home. Ireland’s children’s minister, James Reilly, in bringing forward the change, vowed: “the government, by its laws, will protect and vindicate the rights of children”. Now that’s a promise to be proud of.

?Carolyne Willow is Director of Article 39