The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has been admirably busy of late. It has recently issued three “general comments”, which are expectations on states that, like the UK, made a commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1991. These commentaries bear careful reading, and are a strong guide to child-aware policy making and practice.
They may even help you in any arguments you are making to defend services and support our youngest citizens. They are published after a Budget that will augment earlier decisions to have cumulative, long-term, negative consequences for some vulnerable children and their families.
The first general comment is on Article 31 of the UNCRC. That’s the one about the child’s inalienable right to access to opportunities for leisure, play, the exploration and testing of the self, and, equally important, an experience of arts, culture and creativity both in and out of school.
Current and planned cutbacks to play services, leisure settings, arts workers and experiences are a denial of this right. So if any school’s blind interpretation that a slimmed-down national curriculum actually means “no more arts, we can only read, write, do sums on paper and science on paper, and learn the kings and queens of England”, it is time to be brave.
Apply your creativity, and let children experience theirs. Every human brain needs all its neurons firing, and all the science says that some are only really set alight by play, art, adventure, dance, song, painting or being outside.
The second general comment is on how the world of business should take due account of the effects of all that it does on the life, growth, dignity and safety of the child. In parts of the world there are children who are affected daily – in the worst instances indeed, blighted – by our insatiable appetite for gold, copper, coffee, cotton, chocolate, diamonds, oil, the next trainers, cosmetics, handbags or pashminas.
There are sobering warnings on traffickers and their child victims.
The comment directly and clearly addresses the sale of goods sold on the basis of a sexualised childhood. If you are a critical teacher, mentor or youth worker, this comment bears close study and practical use with young people.
Childhood as a life stage
The third general comment is about Article 24 of the convention, which is about the child’s right to child-centred, accessible and responsive health care and the services that provide it. In the week the “new NHS” comes into effect, this comment could not be better timed. It details how services should address childhood as a life stage, not a phase based on children somehow waiting to be adults later.
It is clear that children are not just cut-down adults. They are service users who account for one in four of the population and are, at various ages, heavy users of health care services.
The comment challenges states to listen to and take on board the views of the children who walk through the surgery door, turn up at A&E, have an emotional or mental health need, a life-limiting illness, are disabled or need long-term medications. The comment is unequivocal: the people who level the playing field are the adults in charge.
They do it for our children and young people, who are often, however young, acutely aware of how they are and what they may need to stay, or to get, well. Whether you work in a health setting or are somebody that notices when a child you teach, support or care for is somehow not okay, I urge you to read and use this general comment.
Maggie Atkinson is children's commissioner for England
