Bringing children’s rights closer to home

Op Ed for the Irish Times, by the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon

As Ombudsman for Children I often return to the question posed by Eleanor Roosevelt, at an event held at the UN in New York, during the tenth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1958 – Where do human rights begin? Her answer remains compelling: “In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. … Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.”

At a meeting in Geneva early next year, the State will be held to account by a panel of international children’s rights experts for its efforts since 2006 to give meaning to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in the small places of children’s daily lives in Ireland.

This will be the third such meeting between the Irish Government and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child since Ireland ratified the UNCRC in 1992. Ahead of it, the UN Committee will consider a Government report and alternative accounts prepared by my Office, in its capacity as an independent human rights institution for children, and civil society organisations.

In a presentation to the Committee this June, I will suggest that the realisation of children’s rights in Ireland is an unfinished project. That is not to say progress has not been made since 2006. Among the positive developments is a constitutional amendment, approved by the people in 2012, which affirms the natural and imprescriptible rights of all children and places children’s views and best interests at the centre of court proceedings regarding care, adoption, guardianship, custody and access. There have been legislative developments on important issues affecting children, including family relationships and school admissions. A senior Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has been appointed and a Department of Children and Youth Affairs established. A National Policy Framework to guide the development, coordination and implementation of policies and services for children has been published. There is a dedicated Child and Family Agency, with statutory responsibility for child protection and welfare services. A free pre-school year has been introduced. A new national children’s hospital is due to be built. A phased cessation to the untenable practice of detaining young people under 18 in prison is underway.

To such constructive developments, others can be added. All are welcome. None is a panacea however, and some are less than optimal. Moreover, the economic crisis that has beset Ireland for much of the period under review has had serious adverse consequences for many thousands of children. The most recent available data indicates that some 138,000 children are living in consistent poverty. Despite the efforts of many professionals to deliver effective services, resource deficits have contributed to protracted delays in dealing with child protection concerns and impeded children’s access to vital health services and education supports. One third of young people requiring inpatient care for mental health difficulties are still being accommodated in adult facilities. In March of this year, 1,054 children in 471 families were homeless. Meanwhile, over 1,400 children are currently spending formative years of their lives in direct provision, in circumstances that inhibit their potential to thrive and curtail their full enjoyment of basic rights.

A deficit in resources, however acute, does not adequately account for shortfalls in Ireland’s protection of children’s rights. A State that respects human rights is one that prioritises the human rights of its citizens, including children, in budgetary, legislative and administrative decision-making. Failings in this regard are evident in different areas of public administration concerning children where policy implementation has dominated over children’s rights and best interests.

Such practices are about culture and their consequences for children are easily recognisable in the first-hand accounts of children and parents whose complaints my Office has examined, which I am bringing to the attention of the UN Committee and publishing in A Word from the Wise. In my view, their stories offer compelling insights into the negative impact that gaps in services and system-oriented practices have on the lives of children and their families. As such, these stories illustrate why it is essential to develop a culture of child-friendly public administration in Ireland, where the rights and best interests of children are treated as a primary consideration.

Creating a society where all children can fully enjoy their rights takes time. Recommendations issued by the Committee on the Rights of the Child following its meeting with the Government next year will assist what has to be a consistent, concerted and collective effort by the State, to bring children’s rights into the “small places, close to home”.

Dr. Niall Muldoon is the Ombudsman for Children.  Dr. Muldoon is a Registered Counselling and Clinical Psychologist who has worked in the area of Child Protection for almost 20 years.

• 22 May 2015
• Type: Speech