UNITED KINGDOM: National Laws

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Summary: General overview of the United Kingdom's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

National laws on chidren's rights

Status of the CRC in national law
The CRC is not directly incorporated into UK law, but national law is interpreted where possible in a manner that gives effect to the State's commitments in international law. This means that where national law relates to children and is open to more than one interpretation, judges may look to the CRC in interpreting that law.

Constitution: The UK does not have a codified Constitution. The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into national law, and so the rights enshrined in that document have a constitutional quality in UK law. However, the ECHR is largely drafted in general terms without regard to age, and so has only one provision that specifically addresses the rights of children:

  • Protocol 7, Article 5: provides that “Spouses shall enjoy equality of rights and responsibilities of a private law character between them, and in their relations with their children, as to marriage, during marriage and in the event of its dissolution. This Article shall not prevent States from taking such measures as are necessary in the interests of the children.”

Legislation: the UK does not codify its law, as such the law relating to children is found throughout a wide range of legislative acts, in primary and delegated legislation, as well as in legislation from the devolved legislatures. Relevant legislation includes, but is by no means limited to:

  • The Children's Act 2004

  • The Childcare Act 2006

  • The Work and Families Act 2006

  • The Child Benefit Act 2005

  • The Children and Adoption Act 2006

  • The Education Act 2005

  • The Equality Act 2006

  • The Disability Discrimination Act 2005

  • The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004

  • The Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006

  • The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003

Legal Research:
The UK Parliament maintains an official website (http://www.parliament.uk/) with extensive legal resources. The UK Government also maintains an online database of UK legislation, including Acts of the national Westminster Parliament and the devolved regional legislatures, as well as secondary legislation (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/browse). In addition, the GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in the UK (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/United_Kingdom1.htm#legprof), and both the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/uk.php) and the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (http://www.bailii.org/) have assembled links to relevant legal research and government resources.

Case law
CRC Jurisprudence
The CRC has been cited in a number of cases within and involving the UK, including:

Case Law Research
The Supreme Court publishes all of its judgements for free on its website (http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/decided-cases/index.html) and the British and Irish Legal Information Institute maintains a free database of case law from courts across the UK (http://www.bailii.org/databases.html). The Commonwealth Legal Information Institute also maintains an online database of case law (http://www.commonlii.org/int/cases/EngR/).

Compliance with the CRC
The Committee has welcomed a broad range of steps taken to bring UK law into compliance with the Convention, particularly the Children's Act 2004 and the Childcare Act 2006. However, the Committee has expressed concern that the State has not incorporated the Convention into domestic law, and that a number of areas of national law remain inconsistent with the CRC.

In depth analysis
Perhaps the area of UK law that is most starkly inconsistent with the CRC is that relating to the juvenile justice system. The Committee has drawn attention to the low age of criminal responsibility (8 years in Scotland and 10 in England) as well as the high number of children detained on remand and following conviction. The Committee has expressed concern that deprivation is not used as a measure of last resort.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) is also a feature of UK law that the Committee has highlighted as potentially incompatible with the Convention. Though ASBOs are civil orders, breaching the conditions of one can result in criminal penalties. As such, the Committee has expressed concern that these orders may act contrary to the best interests of children in bringing them into contact with the criminal justice system. The Committee has recommended that the State conduct an independent review of the ASBO system, with a view to abolishing their application to children.

Corporal punishment also remains legal in the UK and its overseas territories. In its 2008 Concluding Observations, the Committee noted the reforms restricting the defence of “reasonable chastisement”, and welcomed the commitment of the National Assembly in Wales to prohibiting all corporal punishment, but expressed concern that there is no prohibition on corporal punishment across the UK.

Current legal reform projects
As of November 2011, the legislation surrounding Anti Social Behaviour Orders is currently under review with a view to being repealed.

Organisation: 
Child Rights International Network

Countries

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