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We think the
Committee should be guided by two linked themes, which together
will assist it to reach decisions both about its approach to work
referred to it and about work it chooses to undertake. The two
themes are:
1.
The
human rights values and requirements embedded in the legal
framework for devolved law-making, Welsh legislation and policy
– especially but not exclusively the human rights of children
and young people;
2.
The
dynamic process and resource of the UNCRC.
We note the NAW
Business Committee’s June 2016 publication on the fifth
Assembly’s Committees, which states that the
Committees’ respective remits are not prescriptive or
exclusive, that more than one Committee may properly involve itself
in an issue and that communication and coordination between
Committee chairs is encouraged. We believe this is very important
because the human rights of children and the requirements of the
UNCRC are not limited to the ‘education, health and
well-being of children and young people ... including their social
care’, but encompass many matters falling within the remit of
each and all of the other policy and legislation committees. So we
hope the Committee will be able to work on issues impacting on
implementation of all the requirements of the UNCRC, working as
applicable with other Assembly Committees.
The Committee
should take every opportunity to consider how effectively Welsh
Government and the public bodies in relation to which it exercises
functions are absorbing children’s rights in their work. The
Welsh Government in exercise of all its functions and all persons
exercising functions under the Social Services and Well-being
(Wales) Act 2014 in relation to children are under a duty to have
due regard to the requirements of the UNCRC whenever they exercise
those functions. At the same time, some public bodies which are not
under these duties are also adopting the UNCRC as a guiding or
pervasive set of standards in relation to their impact on children.
This is very much to be welcomed but also requires careful scrutiny
and the Committee’s role is of central importance in this,
both in the work it undertakes and but also crucially as an
exemplar for other persons or committees exercising internal and
external scrutiny in relation to such bodies.
We note the
recommendations made in the Legacy Report of the Committee’s
predecessor in the fourth Assembly (March 2016) and we think that
this should inform the Committee when setting priorities in the
current Assembly. However we think that these should be considered
together with and in light of the wealth of information gathered in
non-governmental reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the
Child during its examination of the UK State Party in 2015 –
16 and the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee which were
published in July 2016. We hope that the Committee will take a
proactive role in scrutinising the Welsh Government’s
responses to the Concluding Observations both in terms of overall
strategy and organisation and also in terms of sectoral policy and
law reform.
From the sources
mentioned above and from the Observatory’s work cumulatively,
the following can be identified as priorities for the
Committee’s consideration as they all are significant issues
in terms of children and young people’s human
rights:
1.
The
serious known problems with CAMHS in Wales and the need for
effective programmes to promote children and young people’s
mental health and well-being. Welsh Government’s efforts in
its Together For Mental Health and Together4Children and Young
People programmes should be robustly interrogated especially with
regard to their practical impact on promoting children and young
people’s ability to exercise choice and their best interests
as understood within the UNCRC.
2.
Overall levels of
child poverty and especially the disproportionate impact on
children who are disabled or living with a disabled person and
children from ethnic minority backgrounds.
3.
The
social determinants of inequalities in health, including but not
limited to poverty.
4.
Ensuring that play
remains an area of improvement in terms of the strategic direction
and legal framework in Wales, and that implementation of statutory
duties concerning play is sufficiently resourced and embedded in
practice at local levels.
5.
Adoption of clear,
evidenced, child rights sensitive budgeting processes.
6.
Reform
of the office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales
including the transfer of oversight and accountability to the
National Assembly for Wales.
7.
Combatting ageism
against children, the negative portrayal of children, especially
adolescents, and discrimination against children seeking asylum,
refugee children, Roma, Gypsy Traveller children and children from
other minority groups.
8.
Ensuring active
and meaningful participation by children and young people in
decisions affecting them, and specifically engage in developing the
case for a statutory youth assembly working alongside the
Assembly.
9.
In the
context of implementation of the Donaldson review, and other
suitable contexts of investigation or scrutiny, press
for
a.
mandatory, age and
developmentally sensitive human rights and citizenship education in
schools curricula from an early age;
b.
mandatory training
for teachers and other school staff on human rights especially the
requirements of the UNCRC;
c.
the
adoption of pedagogical approaches which nurture
conflict-resolution skills, tolerance and respect for human rights
and diversity;
d.
a
prescribed, child-rights sensitive curriculum on sexual and
reproductive health and relationships;
e.
robust
disaggregated data collection on school exclusions and
‘managed moves’, interrogating in particular
disproportionate incidence and protraction of exclusion of children
living with disabilities or who are vulnerable.
10.
The
amount and distribution of, and accountability for, targeted
support for children from Roma and Gypsy Traveller communities and
BME children to access education.
11.
Abolition of the
defence of reasonable chastisement, a totemic reform the lack of
which has become an international embarrassment in the context of
Wales’ reputation for progressive measures on
children’s rights, and undermines child
protection.
12.
The
experiences of and service responses to children seeking asylum,
unaccompanied children and those who may have been trafficked:
promotion of effective use of guardianship for all unaccompanied
children.
13.
Monitoring
implementation by Welsh Government of the Rights of Children and
Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 with special attention to the
quality and public accessibility of child rights impact
assessments, the resource made available to support implementation
of the due regard duty across the range of functions of the Welsh
Government and the use in practice of section 6 of the Measure
(remedial legislation).
14.
How
public bodies are embedding children’s rights in
practice.
15.
Promotion of child
rights compliance by private organisations and the business
sector.
When the Committee
deals with any and all these issues, we hope the Committee will
itself hear and heed the voices of experience – the children
and young people concerned and those who care for and work with
them – and will interrogate the extent to which Welsh
Government and other relevant bodies have done so. We hope the
Committee will build upon the approaches adopted by its predecessor
in the fourth Assembly, which noted in its Legacy Report (March
2016) the importance of involving children, young people and carers
in its work. The Committee can also be informed by evidence from
other groups and organisations and we will be pleased to
contribute in whatever ways we can from the information and
expertise in the Observatory and its various projects.
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