The Children’s Law Centre, Amnesty International, CAJ and Include Youth wrote to Doug Garrett, chair of the Policing Board, ahead of their meeting on Thursday 4 March, to ask the Board what steps they are taking to ensure their clear recommendation that all spit hoods by withdrawn by the end of 2020 is followed.
In November 2020, the Northern Ireland Policing Board recommended their immediate phasing out in its report, Review of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Response to Covid 19.
Instead, PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has started distributing spit hoods to 4,000 additional police officers.
New figures show that, to date, the PSNI has used spit hoods 95 times. They were used on children (aged 10 to 17) eight times.
In 81% of cases (68 out of 84 incidents) of their use by the PSNI in 2020, spit hoods were used on people with disabilities.
The figures have come to light in a document published as part of a PSNI equality impact assessment launched this week, almost a year after the introduction of the devices.
Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International, said:
“The decision to roll out spit hoods, rather than withdraw them from use as advised by the Policing Board, is shocking.
“It is disturbing that in more than eight out of ten incidents, the PSNI has used spit hoods on people with disabilities and, on eight occasions, on children.
“The Chief Constable rushed to deploy spit hoods without evidence that they are effective in preventing the transmission of Covid-19. Now he is doubling down on that flawed decision, in outright defiance of the Policing Board.
“Placing a hood over someone’s head is a significant use of force and one that raises key concerns over cruel and degrading treatment, as well as serious potential health risks.
“These devices must be withdrawn from use, as called for by the Policing Board.”
Paddy Kelly, Director of the Children’s Law Centre, said:
“The Children’s Law Centre are extremely concerned that eight spit and bite guards were applied to children during the last year. In the cases of one 16 year-old and one 15 year-old, two spit and bite guards were applied during the same incident. This use of force must have been a frightening experience for these children.
“Their use on children is even more concerning given that children who come in contact with police are more likely to have a disability, mental ill-health or a learning disability. A police officer using a spit hood on a child cannot know if a child has a learning disability or suffers from asthma.
“In the light of medical evidence that the use of spit and bite hoods may increase the risk of Covid-19 infection to both police and members of the public, there can be absolutely no justification for their use on children. Spit and bite guards should be withdrawn in compliance with the Policing Board’s report of November 2020.
“We and other civil society organisations have now written to the Policing Board to ask them what steps they are taking to ensure their clear recommendation that all spit hoods by withdrawn by the end of 2020 is followed.”
Systemic Failure on Children’s Rights in Northern Ireland
A report submitted by the Children’s Law Centre to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child paints a bleak picture in relation to children’s rights in Northern Ireland. The report demonstrates a systemic failure to incorporate the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child within legislation, policy and practice. This has left children’s rights in Northern Ireland far behind internationally recognised standards.
The ‘List of Issues Report’, compiled in partnership with stakeholders in Northern Ireland, seeks to inform questions posed to the UK government and NI Executive ahead of the next examination of the UK Government by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Speaking after submitting the report, Children’s Law Centre Director, Paddy Kelly said:
“The NI Executive is failing children and young people in Northern Ireland. There has been a complete failure to make progress on concluding observations and recommendations since the previous examination by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. This has led to systemic failures, with no comprehensive framework to provide strong protections for children’s rights in Northern Ireland.
“The list of delays on key issues is almost endless. The Children and Young People’s Strategy has not been published and it is unclear if this is to be accepted as the delivery mechanism for UNCRC implementation. No efforts have been made to raise the age of criminal responsibility, and corporal punishment in the family remains lawful with no plans to repeal the legal defence of ‘reasonable chastisement’. Homeless children are still not being provided with suitable accommodation and medically fit children with complex needs are not able to leave hospital due to the lack of suitable accommodation in the community. Likewise, children with Special Education Needs continue to suffer due to a long list of operational failures and delays.
“This is simply unacceptable and failure to address these issues is having a devastating impact on the lives of children and young people in Northern Ireland. Things have been made even worse by COVID-19 which has exposed and exacerbated many pre-existing problems. Where we previously saw gaps in the protection of children’s rights, we are now seeing chasms.
“The current situation for children in Northern Ireland is grave and the Children’s Law Centre is seeing this daily in our work. We need to see immediate action to address these problems ahead of examination in 2022.”
The Children’s Law Centre is an independent charitable organisation established in September 1997 which works towards a society where all children can participate, are valued, have their rights respected and guaranteed without discrimination and every child can achieve their full potential. The organisation is founded on the principles enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Children’s Law Centre operates a dedicated free phone legal advice line for children and young people called CHALKY and provides legal information through an online platform known as ‘REE’ and legal advice through ‘REE Live Chat’ – https://childrenslawcentre.org.uk/clhexpert/
The Northern Ireland NGO Stakeholder Report to Inform the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s ‘List of Issues Prior to Reporting’ can be found here, the supporting evidence report can be found here
The Northern Ireland NGO Stakeholder Report to Inform the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s ‘List of Issues Prior to Reporting’ has been endorsed by 48 organisations
The Children’s Law Centre would particularly like to acknowledge the work of Deena Haydon in drafting the report, the National Children’s Bureau and Include Youth for their support in the compilation of the report and NICCY for their support.
From one week to the next Lauryn, 17, went from having a full package of support for her severe learning difficulties to having nothing. Instead she was put on diazepam
Lauryn loved to walk. She would walk anywhere and she would walk for hours. She would walk in the countryside and through the woods. She would walk around the streets of East Belfast where we live.
She is a 17-year old person with autism, severe learning difficulties and mood disorder. When the first coronavirus lockdown began, she stopped walking. She would get up, go downstairs and sit in front of the TV, a device in her hands, scrolling through it to find new toys to buy. She would do that almost all day.
Lauryn is my daughter and the pandemic has brought our family close to breaking point. It didn’t have to be this way. If the government had fulfilled its legal obligations to us, the last six months would have been different.
We would not be beaten and bruised because of the way her mood swings have been exacerbated by the situation we are in. We would not have had to go to our neighbours to explain that it’s her attacking us, not us attacking her. She would not have been put on a new cocktail of drugs as a last resort to manage her behaviour. We would not have had to hold our daughter down on the floor every day to try and stop her banging her head as hard as she can against any hard surface and against ourselves.
When the lockdown began, her school closed and with it all the support she gets, from occupational therapy to art therapy, ended. While the children of key workers had somewhere to go Lauryn, who requires constant supervision, was left at home. No emergency provision or supervised education placement was granted despite the efforts of our family, the Children’s Law Centre, our MP and our child psychiatrist.
During lockdown, my mother died. My son went into hospital for an operation. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with dementia. The grief is incredible but I have not been able to grieve. I went to my mother’s funeral but then, because the support we had been promised was retracted, I had to go home straight afterwards to look after Lauryn. I couldn’t even go to my own mother’s wake. We have just had to continue moving from one day to the next, in a constant state of emergency, always feeling as though we are about to crack.
Lauryn is a very routine-orientated person and during lockdown her routine has changed completely. She sits on the sofa all day, dictating what we can or cannot watch on TV. Normally, we wouldn’t give in to such demands but in order to try and avoid meltdowns we have been giving in to her a bit more than usual. She has become very lethargic and refuses to do anything for herself, demanding that others do it for her, shouting, “Mummy, help” or “Daddy, help”. She even shouts out in the night for certain toys that she wants, ones we can never find.
In the absence of having her special educational needs met, her behaviour escalates. She attacks us and she attacks herself
A lot of the time, frustration about not knowing what’s going to happen next sets Lauryn off. Because of her autism, she craves certainty, structure and control of day-to-day activities. In the absence of having her special educational needs met, her behaviour escalates. She attacks us and she attacks herself. I have to lock myself in rooms and people outside are thinking that it’s Lauryn being attacked, not me. She’s screaming, “Mummy, stop, stop” because I have the door closed. She wants the door to be opened so she can attack me. The neighbours tell me not to worry but it’s embarrassing having to go to them and explain what’s happening.
Since the lockdown began we have asked again and again for help from the Department of Education, the Education Authority (EA) and from Lauryn’s school. It has been a humiliating, degrading and traumatising experience. I used to work full-time but had to take redundancy last year in order to look after Lauryn. Now I work part-time as a teaching assistant but even that feels close to impossible.
At one point, later on in the first lockdown, I filled in the “Vulnerable Child” form on the EA website, which was the process made available at a late stage to seek help if the child’s school was unable to offer a supervised education place. Weeks later I got an automated response that told us we wouldn’t be helped and concluded:
“As you may be aware the school is currently closed. I have made the Principal aware of the application and should they be able to open, a risk assessment will be carried out. I will come back to you if I receive any more information.”
No-one came back to me. An alternative specialist school placement was finally secured in August, but that was swiftly interrupted due to positive Covid cases.
Her dose of anti-depressants was doubled. She was then put on a huge dose of diazepam
What has happened instead is that drugs have been thrown at the problem. Lauryn had always been on medication to help her sleep, but during the lockdown she has been chemically restrained. Her 100mg dose of the anti-depressant Sertraline was doubled to 200mg. She was then put on a huge dose of diazepam, and we’re currently working with her doctor on slowly reducing that. The withdrawal is hellish.
Rather than going to school – rather than putting in place measures to respond to this extraordinary situation – they are medicating the problem, and if there are horrendous side-effects for us to deal with then so be it. Lauryn’s consultant psychiatrist has indicated that this chemical restraint would have been unnecessary if she had the structure and routine of school attendance. I am sure it is also contributing to her lethargy and to her new refusal to walk.
Rather than find respite in nature, we have the indoors and we have the internet, which she uses to buy toys. Lauryn’s obsession with toys is longstanding but there is no escaping it now. When she was little, she used to think that they came alive when she went to sleep. Then she wanted to stay up and watch them come to life. Then she wanted to stay up, watch them and film them on her iPad. In the daytime, all she wants to do is look for new toys to buy on the internet. She can’t talk about anything else, but then once she’s bought that toy, it gives her satisfaction for about an hour and then it’s on to the next thing.
There are toys that she cherishes, but there are many more that are bought, played with for an hour, and then discarded. We spend thousands and thousands of pounds every year on these toys. The house is buckling under the weight of them: characters from television shows, furry animals, dress up dolls, figurines, you name it. If she watches a programme on TV she can never just buy the toy for one character, it has to be the whole set. The toys themselves are always cheap and cheaply made, but so often they come from China or the US, so the shipping costs are exorbitant.
It’s like a metaphor for our society, really. People think that these cheap products will make them happy but they don’t. When Lauryn is at school, she can’t get online to buy toys because she’s not allowed her phone. At home, if we try and stop her she flies into a rage and she won’t calm down until we let her get back to scrolling and buying. The fallout if we tried to do anything more to stop her would be horrendous. The internet is the devil. Ebay is the devil. Lauryn’s speech is extremely limited but she can find anything she wants online.
I’m not a negative person by nature, but I feel totally overwhelmed and am not sure I can carry on. The threat of a second lockdown looms on the horizon and we are terrified that we will be placed back in the same untenable position, at home without support of any kind. If we don’t get any help this time round, I’m not sure what will happen to our family.
Told by Tina Fyfe to Oscar Rickett
Watch ourvideo interview with Tina and the charity that is helping her and others like her. This story is part of our seriesThe Unlawful State: Stories from a Pandemicwhere we lift up the voices of those whose lives are being disproportionately affected by the coronavirus crisis.
Children’s Law Centre Service during Covid-19 Health crisis
We are not receiving post at present, all communication to be sent by email.
As a result of the current health crisis, and in accordance with government advice, all Children’s Law Centre staff are now working from home. We will continue to deliver services to the best of our ability and within ongoing restrictions.
What about Children’s Human Rights during the COVID-19 Pandemic?
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recently set out that “…restrictions must be imposed only when necessary, be proportionate and kept to an absolute minimum” and that “States should respect the right of every child to non-discrimination in its measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic as well as take targeted measures to protect children in vulnerable situations…States should ensure that responses to the pandemic, including restrictions and decisions on allocation of resources, reflect the principle of the best interests of the child.”
For answers to your legal FAQs on how COVID-19 impacts on children’s rights click here>>>
Brief note on children and the Mental Capacity Act (NI) 2016 and temporary changes to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards during COVID-19 emergency, click here>>>
If you are concerned about how COVID-19 may impact on children’s enjoyment of their legal rights and you require further legal advice please email: info@childrenslawcentre.org
You may contact individual Children’s Law Centre staff via email. Please initially contact Sarah McAuley on reception@childrenslawcentre.org
If you have already been in contact with a member of staff please contact the relevant member of staff directly.
Email addresses for Children’s Law Centre staff are below:
reception@childrenslawcentre.org
sarahmcauley@childrenslawcentre.org
barbaramuldoon@childrenslawcentre.org
catherine@childrenslawcentre.org
claire@childrenslawcentre.org
dianehammond@childrenslawcentre.org
eamonnmcnally@childrenslawcentre.org
samnelson@childrenslawcentre.org
emmaroseduffy@childrenslawcentre.org
helenrafferty@childrenslawcentre.org
kathrynstevenson@childrenslawcentre.org
liammackle@childrenslawcentre.org
mariamccloskey@childrenslawcentre.org
paddykelly@childrenslawcentre.org
rachelhogan@childrenslawcentre.org
Sinead@childrenslawcentre.org
If you wish to contact our legal advice service you may continue to do so by emailing: info@childrenslawcentre.org
Please note that CHALKY our Free Phone Advice Line has been suspended until further notice.
We will continue to monitor government advice and hope to be able to return to a full service as soon as it is safe to do so.
Please stay safe and well.
Children’s Law Centre Management Committee and Staff
This includes requiring each country, every five years or so, to make a report on their progress to an international committee of experts on children’s rights (this is called: ‘The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child’). This Committee will then visit those countries to check if they are doing what they should be for children and let them know where they need to improve.
People should think about ways to make sure everyone knows about the Convention, regardless of their age. There should be training around how to do this, especially for those who work with children and young people.
Countries are free to give children and young people more rights than the Convention lists; they just can’t take away the rights that are given by it.
the government should always try to make sure that your rights:
are realised in practice
actively help you to live a safer and happier life
It also means that the government should take steps so that you and the adults who work with children and young people all know about the UNCRC.
The age of criminal responsibility in Northern Ireland is 10, however the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child say that this is too low and have asked our government to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old.
The government must do all that they can to protect you and look for your family so they can reunite you. If your family cannot be found, the government must provide you with the same support and protection as any other child that has been separated from their family.
This includes being taken from where you live against your will and forced to live somewhere else.
It is your right to learn and practice your language, customs and religion. The government must do all that they can to support you and make sure you do not face unfair treatment or discrimination as a result of this.
Our government should make sure you can participate in fun activities you like e.g. places to meet and socialise with friends, sports, youth clubs and cinemas. You should also have opportunities to enjoy cultural life and customs for instance taking part in special events and activities.
The government should;
Make sure primary education is compulsory and free
Develop different types of secondary education, for example vocational training, and offer accessible guidance to all young people on their options
Offer financial support for young people who cannot afford further education
Work to reduce dropout rates from school
Make sure all school disciplines are appropriate, for example teachers should not use violence or harm children or young people
Your education should:
Respect human rights and freedoms
Respect the environment
Respect your family, identity, language, your values and the values of communities different than your own
Prepare you for life when you leave school for example understanding, peace, tolerance, equality and friendship with people of all backgrounds
The government should help your parents/guardians to provide for you. This includes supporting you, or a parent/guardian on your behalf, to make a claim for social security benefits, offering support and training, clothing, food and housing.
This support and training should also include teaching you about the effects of drug use and the government should protect you from any harm you might suffer if your parents/guardians are using drugs.
You have the right to clean water and nutritious food so that you can stay healthy. You should also be taught about nutrition, hygiene and how to keep yourself safe.
The government should make sure you have access to education, training, health care services, rehabilitation service, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities necessary for your development, especially if you have a disability.
The government should do as much as they can to make sure you grow up happy, healthy and safe.
This includes providing you with child-care or other arrangements if your parents/guardians are working.
If you are living in conflict, it may be in your best interests to place you in a different country.
Your other rights must still be met, for example keeping in contact with your parents where it is safe to do so.
Some examples of being in the care of the government are when you are living in;
care homes
foster care
hospitals
residential schools
boarding schools
prisons
detention centres
rehabilitation centres
If it has been decided that the best option for you is alternative care (e.g. foster care, a children’s home or being adopted),
there should be independent checks to make sure that your rights are respected.
You have the right to keep in contact with your family if they are living in a different country, and to leave your country to live with your family, where possible.
Applications to reunite a family involving children can be made by children who are outside the UK,
to join their parent(s) with leave to remain in the UK, subject to meeting requirements set out in the Immigration Rules.
Being kidnapped also includes being taken from where you live against your will and forced to live somewhere else, e.g. being sent to a different country against your will.
The government must understand that your parents and family are important people in your life.
The government must also see that, generally, as you get older and more mature you should have even more say in these types of decisions.
For example;
If your parent is in prison you have a right to visit them if you want to, so long as this is in your best interests.
If you are in care, your parents may still be involved in decisions affecting your life. They should be helped to do this in a way that respects your rights and is in your best interests.
This includes help for survivors of:
violence
sexual violence
neglect
exploitation of any kind
abuse
torture
armed conflict
trafficking
This also applies to young people who are suspected of having breached immigration laws, such as asylum seekers and refugees.
You should be protected from anyone doing anything to your body that you do not want them to do, this includes physical punishment in school or for someone to touch you, to take inappropriate pictures of you, or to use images of you in a negative or inappropriate way.
Some types of harm include physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation. There are also traditional practices in some cultures which can cause harm to children, such as forced marriage, food restrictions, scarring/branding and other body modifications.
The government must help to make sure that people are never violent or harmful towards you and they should take steps to prevent you from harming yourself in any way.
You are free to join a peaceful protest about issues you feel strongly about e.g. climate change and your privacy should be respected when doing this, but you don’t have a right to meet others for unlawful purposes e.g. to cause harm to other people.
Some young people living in places like residential homes, juvenile justice centres or hospitals, may find it difficult to have their own space. Regardless of where you are living, you have a right to privacy.
Everyone should have access to the media and the internet, including young people whose freedoms are limited e.g. those in the Juvenile Justice Centre. Young people with a disability or where English is not their first language should get the help they need to access the media. You should be protected from harmful media for example material that shows graphic violence.
You can express yourself in different ways such as talking out loud or posting things on the internet. Your parents/guardians can guide you in this but as you get older and more mature, your ability to hold beliefs that are different from others must be respected.
For example, if your religion/beliefs are different from other students at your school, your teachers should make sure you have the chance to practice your religion and customs during school hours, if you want to. You should be able to follow your own beliefs as long as these beliefs respect and don’t cause harm to others e.g. you don’t have the right to reveal private information or say harmful things about a person that are not true.
Your identity is made up of many different parts, including:
Your name and nationality
Your race, culture, religion and language
Your appearance, abilities, gender identity and sexual orientation
The government should not interfere with your right to any of these and they should be able to help if any of these things are taken away from you.
For example;
Children in care – This means that your name should not be changed, unless you want it to be.
Stateless children – being stateless can affect whether you can go to school or to the hospital. The government should not have any laws that discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, race, religion or gender to cause statelessness.
If you are in care you have a right to have a say in where you are going to live. If you are in a hospital you have a right to have a say when there are different treatment options available to you. As you get older and more mature you should have even more say in these types of decisions.
The government should do as much as they can to make sure you grow up happy, healthy and safe.
This means all adults, like your parents/guardians, teachers, social workers, doctors and the police. When adults make decisions that will affect your life they must always think about what’s best for you and make sure you have a say in these decisions, where possible.
Discrimination can be direct or indirect. For example;
Direct: If someone did not get a job because they had a disability or a different skin colour.
Indirect: If everyone had to climb up a flight of stairs to get to an after-school club, this would discriminate against children who couldn’t do that because of a physical disability.
Training
Training
Due to the current Covid 19 Public Health Emergency all CLC’s face to face Training Calendar Events are postponed until further notice. We are hoping to offer online training seminars in the near future. Dates for online events and booking details will be posted to this page in due course…
The provision of training and information events are integral to the work of the Children’s Law Centre. All training delivered by CLC is directly informed by legal, policy and legislative developments relevant to children and young people and is underpinned by the key principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the UK Government in 1991:
Article 2 – Non discrimination
Article 3 – Best Interests of the Child
Article 12 – Voice of the Child
CLC training aims to support all stakeholders in making children’s rights a reality in this jurisdiction by:
Raising awareness and understanding of children’s rights
Promoting the protection and mainstreaming of children’s rights
Links to online booking feature for future use?
Youth Participation and Advocacy
Youth Participation and Advocacy Project
The work of the Children’s Law Centre is guided and informed by the views of children and young people, particularly youth@CLC, our youth advisory panel.
Youth@CLC work closely with our Youth Participation and Advocacy Worker and other youth forums/young people in schools to raise awareness of children’s rights issues in Northern Ireland and advocate for positive change in children’s lives using children’s rights.
Youth@CLC inform our work and government policy affecting children through:
Participation in consultation responses
Running children’s rights projects and campaigns
Policy Work
Policy Work in CLC
CLC’s policy work ensures that where proposed governmental policies or legislation will impact on children and young people, government is reminded of its obligations to deliver on children’s rights as it is set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Some of the policy work we do includes:
Making consultation responses
Providing policy briefings to decision makers, partner organisations, children and young people and the general public
Delivering policy training
Making written and oral submissions to NI Assembly Committees
Carrying out consultations with children and young people and representing the views of children and young people to government
Legal Services
Our values
Our legal services are child focussed and the child is always our client.
We ensure that public authorities, tribunals and courts recognise children as rights holders with the right to express their views and have those views taken into account.
We strive to ensure that when decisions are being made that impact on the lives of children we represent…
The voice of the child is always heard ,
The child’s best interests are at the heart of decision-making
All children have equality of access to their legal rights, regardless of their age, background or circumstances
Chalky – Free phone Advice Line 0808 808 5678…(phone and email icon and address)
Our CHALKY legal advice and information service was launched in May 2000. We provide a free child friendly legal advice and information service, which deals with over 2000 issues annually. Our service provides free advice by phone or email to children and young people, their parents/carers and professionals with legal queries relating to difficulties in school, access to services for disabled children, special educational needs, mental health service provision, homelessness, family law issues and other general legal queries.
We can provide advice on children’s rights relating to the following areas:
Family Law
Being Looked After
Youth Justice
Mental Health Law
Access to Medical Services
Access to Family Support Services
School Admissions
Suspensions and Expulsions
Special Educational Needs
Social Security Benefits
Employment
Leaving home
The Human Rights Act
Equality and Discrimination
Housing
Immigration
Do you know you Rights series link here
Free Legal Representation for Children and Young People
We also provide free legal representation, particularly at SENDIST and Mental Health Review Tribunals and undertake strategic litigation following the criteria contained within our Casework Policy.(link to)
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New Digital Information and Advice Service for Children and Young People only (under 18)– Live Now!
Ree Rights Responder and Live Chat
Young people (aged 13 – 17) who would prefer to access information on their rights online can access our Children’s Rights chatbot REE- Rights Responder, which also offers a connection to an online legal advisor through REE live Chat for those young people who may need additional information and advice on their rights. See Ask an Expert in Youth Section for more information on REE.
