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Author: Sam Nelson

Childhood and Equal Protection for Children

29 April 2023
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

30 April 2023

As the law stands currently, parents and carers can use “reasonable” force to discipline their children in Northern Ireland.

The Children’s Law Centre, along with other organisations that advocate on behalf of children, have long campaigned to remove the defence of reasonable chastisement.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have also called to “prohibit as a matter of priority all corporal punishment in the family, including through the repeal of all legal defences, such as “reasonable chastisement”.

Northern Ireland is lagging behind the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales (and indeed many other countries around the world) in relation to giving children equal protection from assault.

Research commissioned in 2017 by the NI Children’s Commissioner shows that views about physical punishment are changing, with the majority of people in NI now supporting children being legally protected from hitting, smacking and assault.

However, for those that say, “well it never did me any harm”, Roald Dahl writes about physical punishment in his autobiography ‘Boy: Tales of Childhood’ and while his experience is in the context of school, the message remains the same:

“By now I am sure you will be wondering why I lay so much emphasis upon school beatings in these pages. The answer is that I cannot help it. All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed literally to wound other boys, and sometimes quite severely.

I couldn’t get over it. I never have got over it.

It would, of course, be unfair to suggest that all masters were constantly beating the daylights out of all the boys in those days. They weren’t. Only a few did so, but that was quite enough to leave a lasting impression of horror upon me.

It left another more physical impression upon me as well. Even today, whenever I have to sit for any length of time on a hard bench or chair, I begin to feel my heart beating along the old lines that the cane made on my bottom some fifty-five years ago.”

Research has shown that the physical punishment of children is ineffective as a method of discipline and confirms that positive parenting has much better outcomes.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, UCL, writing in the forward of a report which reviewed the effects of physical punishment on the child and in the family sums it up well:

 “The international evidence could not be any clearer – physical punishment has the potential to damage children and carries the risk of escalation into physical abuse”.

Given the established evidence outlining the harm physical punishment causes children and the repeated calls from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to ban physical punishment in the home, it should be a priority for decision makers in this jurisdiction to remove the defence of reasonable punishment, therefore prohibiting all forms of physical punishment in the home. CLC would also encourage the implementation of comprehensive government support for parents to develop positive parenting skills.

Our children deserve equal protection. It’s past time we delivered it for them.

Image of report front cover with text reading 'NI NGO Stakeholder Report 2 - Endorsed by over 50 organisations and individuals'
We raised the case for removing the defence of reasonable punishment in our NI NGO Stakeholder Report 2.
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Plastic Bullets Still A Threat 25 Years After The Good Friday Agreement

17 April 2023
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

18 April 2023

As we reflect on the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Paddy Kelly, Director at the Children’s Law Centre, has spoken of her disappointment that Attenuating Energy Projectiles (AEPs), commonly referred to as plastic bullets are still being used on children.

The ‘Patten Report’, provided for in the Good Friday Agreement, reported in 1999 as part of the programme of reform of policing. The report recognised the lethal nature of plastic bullets and recommended that an ‘immediate and substantial investment should be made in a research programme to find an acceptable, effective and less potentially lethal alternative to the Plastic Baton Round’.

Despite this recommendation, and the fact that 17 people including eight children were killed by plastic and rubber bullets during the conflict, AEPs are still used by the PSNI. Northern Ireland is the only jurisdiction in the UK where AEPs are used during public order policing, despite recommendations from international human rights bodies calling on a total ban.

Image of report front cover with text reading 'NI NGO Stakeholder Report 2 - Endorsed by over 50 organisations and individuals'
Download: NI NGO Stakeholder Report 2

The Children’s Law Centre submitted evidence to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in December 2022 and presented to the Committee in February 2023, once again highlighting the continued use of AEPs in Northern Ireland and the dangers they present to children and young people. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is due to publish fresh recommendations this year.

Paddy Kelly, Director at the Children’s Law Centre, said:

“The Good Friday Agreement has left us all in a far better place, but when we look at the progress achieved around policing, the continued use of plastic bullets, including against children, remains a cause of serious concern and is not compliant with the recommendations of international human rights bodies.

“The ‘Patten Report’, which flowed from the Good Friday Agreement, recommended investment to find an acceptable, effective and less potentially lethal alternative to the Plastic Baton Round. That has not happened. AEPs of their very nature pose a significant and potentially lethal threat to children and young people.

Image of Paddy Kelly with pull quote reading: "The Good Friday Agreement has left us all in a far better place, but when we look at the progress achieved around policing, the continued use of plastic bullets, including against children, remains a cause of serious concern".

“It is hard to comprehend why the use of AEPs continues in Northern Ireland, while they are deemed far too dangerous for use in the rest of the UK. Indeed, in 2011, following riots in England, a Home Affairs Committee Report concluded that it would be ‘inappropriate as well as dangerous’ to use baton rounds to police public order disturbances. Yet they continue to be used in Northern Ireland, with the most recent statistics showing they were used on at least one child in the last reporting year.

“We cannot continue to ignore the evidence that the use of AEPs can be lethal. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have twice issued strong recommendations, in 2008 and 2016, calling for a complete ban and highlighting the dangers. Twenty-five years after the Good Friday Agreement, the Children’s Law Centre, yet again, have had to raise at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child the continued use on children of these potentially lethal weapons.

“It is beyond time that we deliver on the Good Friday Agreement, underpinned by rights and equal protection, by finally banning the use of AEPs in Northern Ireland.”

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Children’s Law Centre Secures Investigation and Review of PSNI Strip-Searches on Children

10 March 2023
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

13 March 2023

Image of siren with headline included

The Northern Ireland Policing Board’s Human Rights adviser will investigate and review PSNI strip searches of children and young people in custody. The investigation follows work by the Children’s Law Centre to raise concerns around the practice.

In announcing the Terms of Reference, the Policing Board highlighted two key concerns, including the evidential basis for conducting strip searches and the lack of an appropriate adult being present in most cases.

In January 2023, the Children’s Law Centre uncovered a number of concerning statistics highlighting the absence of items found in most cases of a strip search and concern around the threshold being used to justify strip searches, the overwhelming majority of which took place without an appropriate adult present.

Image of a report with quote from the Terms of Reference reading: "The issue was originally raised by organisations in the children's sector at a PSNI youth champions meeting in May 2022 with more in-depth discussion from the Children's Law Centre and reporting within the media."

Following the announcement of the Terms of Reference for the investigation and review, Fergal McFerran, of the Children’s Law Centre, said:

“The Children’s Law Centre welcomes this investigation. We have consistently raised our concerns around the strip-searching of children and young people by the PSNI. We are pleased that Policing Board members and the Human Rights Adviser have taken our concerns seriously.

“We believe the commissioning of this investigation is itself a sign that serious concerns in relation to the practice of strip-searching children remain unanswered. We hope the investigation will bring the appropriate levels of scrutiny and we have no doubt there will be serious failings identified. It is right that the actions of the PSNI on this issue are carefully examined.

“From the information we have been able to uncover, we know that in almost all cases, nothing is found as a result of a strip-search. It is our view that this demonstrates the lack of justification for using such an invasive use of force on children, some of whom have been as young as 14.”

Image of scared child with a pull quote from Fergal McFerran reading: "We hope the investigation will bring appropriate levels of scrutiny and we have no doubt there will be serious failings identified."

The Northern Ireland Policing Board’s Terms of Reference for the review can be found here.

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Children’s Law Centre Support Young Person in Successful High Street Voucher Scheme Complaint

8 March 2023
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News
Equality Commission finds the Department for the Economy failed to fulfill equality duties
Children’s Law Centre supports the first ever complaint to the Equality Commission by a person under 18

An Equality Commission investigation into the High Street Voucher Scheme has found that the Department for the Economy failed to comply with its own Equality Scheme. The investigation found that the Department failed to screen at the earliest opportunity and that it failed to properly assess the impacts of the policy on children under 18.

Speaking after the investigation was concluded, Claire Kemp, Policy Officer at the Children’s Law Centre said:

“This is a really significant finding by the Equality Commission. The Children’s Law Centre repeatedly raised concerns at the time that the Department for the Economy had failed to properly comply with its own Equality Scheme. We have now been vindicated in that, but unfortunately around 450,000 children and young people have lost out in the meantime.

“The frustration now is that while the Equality Commission has made this finding, the young people have still lost out. The High Street Voucher Scheme was announced in April 2021 and it was clear at that point that the Department was intending to exclude under 18s with no basis for doing so. Yet it has taken almost two years to get to this point.

“Children and young people suffered during the pandemic like everyone else. Many of them contributed in the recovery and should have benefited from the High Street Voucher Scheme. Not only that, but providing vouchers to children and young people could have made a big difference in a lot of lives by providing essentials for disadvantaged children at a time when people were facing escalating hardship.

“Children and young people are no less deserving than anyone else in our society, yet they are repeatedly failed, forgotten and discriminated against. This finding should be a reminder to all government departments that they must take their equality duties seriously.”

The full investigation report and recommendations is available here
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Education Authority Breached Human Rights of Disabled Children During Covid

22 February 2023
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

February 2023

Image of school bus with headline text: 'Education Authority Breached Human Rights of Disabled Children During Covid'

In two landmark cases, the High Court in Belfast has declared that the human rights of disabled children were breached when they were refused access to school transport, which denied them access to education. The cases were brought before the court through applications seeking leave for judicial review. After the Education Authority (EA) provided solutions for each child, legal declarations were secured through agreement that the children in both cases had been deprived of their right to education under Article 2 of Protocol 1, along with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The cases were brought by the Children’s Law Centre (CLC) on behalf of two children after a referral for specialist legal services by the charity Angel Eyes as part of a joint EqualEyes project with CLC, which protects the equality rights of children with visual impairment. The CLC legal team argued that prolonged and disproportionate Covid restrictions on school transport for reasons related to disability were unjustifiable and unlawful, interfering with the right to education.

One child was unable to attend specialist education placements in person for all but one day of nursery and for the entirety of the P1 and P2 academic years. The best interests of the children and their legal entitlements were entirely discounted within the decision making processes of the EA.

After protracted negotiations to seek and develop alternative educational and transport arrangements for the children, the CLC legal team secured landmark declarations where the EA acknowledged that the children’s human rights to education had been breached during the relevant time periods and they were treated differently to other children because of their disabilities.

Speaking after the conclusion of the case, Rachel Hogan, of the Children’s Law Centre, said:

“This is a significant legal milestone for these children, and for all disabled children who have been denied access to services which enable equality of opportunity. The High Court declarations reinforce the importance of ensuring that public authorities do not place unlawful systemic barriers in the way of disabled people, including disabled children. Failure to ensure accessibility of services throughout society is capable of breaching the human rights of groups of children who are protected by law.

Image of Rachel Hogan with pull quote: "We hope these landmark declarations serve as a significant reminder to public authorities and duty bearers more generally that disabled children and young people are entitled to equal treatment and equality of opportunity in all aspects of life."

“When we look at the experience of disabled children throughout Covid, including failures to identify mitigations before implementing restrictions, and also their much slower and ongoing return to normal life compared to others, we get a real understanding of the multiple barriers they face. In our legal casework, CLC sees a system-wide failure of equality for disabled children and their families that reaches far beyond the education sphere and into every element of daily life.

“The remedial actions taken and acknowledgements given to these children by the EA are therefore welcome as it is entirely right that public authorities should openly identify barriers to equality in order to enable these to be removed.

“We hope these landmark declarations serve as a significant reminder to public authorities and duty bearers more generally that disabled children and young people are entitled to equal treatment and equality of opportunity in all aspects of life.”

Speaking anonymously by order of the courts, a parent of one of the children welcomed the decision:

“I brought my child’s case to the attention of the Children’s Law Centre as I felt no person or child should be treated differently due to their disability and medical requirements and excluded from transport and vital education and learning with their peers. My child was made to feel different. This declaration will hopefully promote learning from public bodies and understanding that all children should be treated inclusively.”

A parent of the other child spoke of his frustration that his child was treated unfairly:

“This is an important recognition of the failure to treat disabled children fairly, particularly through Covid restrictions. While my child was being denied access to school transport and denied their right to education, other children were permitted to travel on packed school buses with no masks.

“My child was denied access purely on the basis of their disability, with no serious effort to risk assess the situation or consider the best interests of my child.

“I’m pleased with the declaration, I only wish it wasn’t yet another case where a disabled child has to go to the courts to get access to services. I hope the Education Authority learns from this and properly considers the impact policies have on disabled children.”

An immediate impact

Since securing access to education, the impact on the children was clear to see. One of the children initially received sessions of home education and immediately began to show signs of improvement. She began sleeping better, had more energy and became much happier in herself. She is now fully enjoying social and sensory stimulation, loves going to school and is learning to communicate. The family have more ability to recharge their batteries and to carry out their intense caring role while also looking after their younger child. The child now goes to school three days, has home tuition two days a week and is gradually moving towards full time school based education.

Speaking about the collaborative EqualEyes project, Karen Wilson, Education Advocate Lead at Angel Eyes said: “This result demonstrates the benefit of collaborative work to identify needs and protect the rights of disabled children and young people. Through our work in the EqualEyes project, we were able to identify additional barriers to education and signpost across the project to our partners at CLC to find a legal remedy.”

Pull quote graphic with picture of Karen Wilson and accompanying quote: "This result demonstrates the benefit of collaborative work to identify needs and protect the rights of disabled children and young people. Through our work in the EqualEyes project, we were able to identify additional barriers to education and signpost across the project to our partners at CLC to find a legal remedy."

High Court Declarations

JR226

IT IS HEREBY DECLARED that:

  • The Proposed Respondent breached Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the period of time from 24th February 2021 to June 2022 insofar as there was an unlawful interference with the Applicant’s access to education and he was treated differently to other children in the State on the basis of his medical condition contrary to Article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights in conjunction with Article 14 ECHR.

JR225

IT IS HEREBY DECLARED that:

  1. The Respondent failed to discharge its obligations under article 16(5) of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 to arrange that the special educational provision indicated in the applicant’s Statement was made for her at school, for the period of time from September 2020 to June 2022, save for periods whereby the applicant was unable to attend school because of illness or otherwise including 16th September 2021 to 24th September 2021 and 15th November 2021 and 28th November 2021 and other various dates;
  2. The Respondent failed to discharge its obligations under Article 86(1) of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 to make arrangements for the applicant’s suitable education at school or otherwise for various periods of time between September 2021 and February 2022 when the applicant was unable to attend school due to the lack of school transport or unfit to attend school but was fit to receive education at home;
  3. The Respondent breached Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the period of time from September 2020 to June 2022 insofar as there was interference with the applicant’s rights under Article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights in conjunction with Article 14 ECHR, as there was interference with the Applicant’s access to education on the basis of her medical condition and she was treated differently to other children in the State because of her disability.
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