Convention On The Rights Of The Child

EDM number 692 in 2003-04, proposed by Lynne Jones on 25/02/2004.

That this House notes that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a comprehensive international human rights treaty that spells out the basic rights to which children everywhere are entitled, that the UNCRC defines children as all human beings under 18, that its 54 articles oblige states to guarantee a full range of rights from survival and development to protection from exploitation and abuse and full participation in family, cultural and social life; further notes that the UNCRC was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and that 192 countries have ratified it, making it the most widely ratified human rights instrument in history; further notes that only two countries, Somalia, which has no central government and the United States, have failed to become states party to the Convention; further notes that in their 18th Report of November 2003, the Joint Committee on Human Rights welcomes many positive aspects of the UK Government's compliance with the UNCRC, in particular the commitment to establish a children's commissioner for England, but that the JCHR also states that UK Government policy displays insufficient compliance with obligations under the UNCRC due to the lack of a children's rights framework; urges the Government to implement the JCHR recommendation that the Government's overarching strategy for children and young people should include specific reference to the rights, principles and provisions of the Convention; and calls upon the UK Government to press Somalia and the United States to ratify the CRC without delay.

This motion has been signed by a total of 45 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.