Youth Work: Equality law must include under-18s
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
The British Youth Council this week called for under-18s to be included in the single equality bill expected later this year.
The council made the call in its response to the Framework for Fairness green paper. The paper looks at whether all equality legislation should be put into a single duty and whether it should be extended to cover discrimination on the grounds of age, sexual orientation and religious belief in the provision of goods, services and facilities.
The council consulted young people who had gathered evidence of "discrimination", such as signs on shop doors limiting the number of teenagers, to produce its response.
Jo Field, head of policy at the council, said any exemption of under-18s would be at odds with the 10-year youth strategy released in July, which she said acknowledged young people were stereotyped. "If this legislation doesn't tackle that then in some instances government is contradicting itself," she said.
The bill is expected to be announced in this November's Queen's Speech.