What do the General Election manifestos offer for children's rights?

Date: 8th April 2010
Category: General measures of implementation

by the Rights of the Child UK (ROCK)

Together has joined with major charities, lawyers and children's rights activists from all over the UK to form a coalition calling on the Government to make the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) part of UK law. The coalition is called Rights of the Child UK (ROCK). ROCK believes that making the CRC part of UK law would be the best way to make sure all children's rights are taken seriously in all areas of their lives, regardless of their circumstances or setting. More than eighteen years after the Convention was ratified by the UK, we think this is long overdue.

The ROCK coalition welcomes all proposals which protect and build on existing human rights protection for all children in the UK, particularly through the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law. Most notably, the Liberal Democrats have committed to incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into UK law. Although the Liberal Democrats is the only party to cite the UNCRC in its manifesto, the Labour and Conservative parties also outline their planned approaches to human rights both in the UK and internationally, with clear implications for children. Click here and scroll down to see a summary of the key proposals from the main parties.