Election 2015 Party Policy Guide: Children's rights
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Conservatives
- Champion equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
- Give all vulnerable victims and witnesses greater opportunity to give evidence outside court, and roll out nationally pre-trial cross-examination for child victims
- Scrap the Human Rights Act and introduce a British Bill of Rights that will break the formal link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights, and make the Supreme Court the ultimate arbiter of human rights matters in the UK
Labour
- End the indefinite detention of people in the asylum and immigration system
- End detention for pregnant women and those who have been the victims of sexual abuse or trafficking
- Protect the Human Rights Act and reform, rather than walk away from, the European Court of Human Rights
- Make sure that access to legal representation is not determined by personal wealth, but remains available to those who need it
Liberal Democrats
- Enshrine the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into UK law, which allows the detention or imprisonment of young people only as a last resort, guarantees children the right to privacy and recommends the
- age of criminal responsibility be set at 12
- Protect the Human Rights Act
- Develop a Freedoms Act, which would feature a ban on high-frequency Mosquito dispersal devices, which the party has said "discriminate against young people"
Commentary
Labour and the Lib Dems want to retain the Human Rights Act, while the Tories want to scrap it. This is a key piece of legislation that has been used by charities to challenge decision-making by public bodies where the rights of children and disadvantaged groups have been breached.
Labour also wants to strengthen protections for asylum seekers, and end the detention of pregnant women and victims of sexual abuse and trafficking.
The Lib Dems' plan to enshrine the UNCRC into UK law could have implications for young offenders, affecting the use of custody and the age of criminal responsibility.