Rights Of The Child

EDM number 1165 in 1997-98, proposed by Martin Bell on 30/03/1998.

That this House notes the United Kingdom is a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; further notes that Articles 9, 10 and 22 of the Convention lay out a child's rights in relation to nationality, immigration and asylum; further notes that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children continue to be held in detention centres and prisons; notes that in 1995 the Committee on the Rights of the Child called on the United Kingdom Government to review its immigration and nationality laws and procedures to ensure their conformity with the principles and provisions of the Convention; notes that the Government has not yet taken action to review the reservation relating to immigration, nationality and asylum; and calls on the Government immediately to withdraw this reservation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and ensure its nationality and immigration law reflects the primacy of the welfare of the child.

This motion has been signed by a total of 77 MPs.