Government accused of failing on children's rights

The government's plans to put child welfare at the heart of its election strategy suffered a setback today as a coalition of charities warned that many children remain at risk and their rights are being violated.

The UK still falls short of meeting the standards in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) due to the unnecessary jailing of juveniles, the detention of refugee children, the failure to outlaw smacking, high rates of child poverty, and the prosecution of child prostitutes, according to the country's five largest children's charities.

The charities - Barnardo's, the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children), Save the Children, the Children's Society and NCH - today launched a manifesto outlining action to ensure that Britain complies with the UNCRC, including recommendations to:

· Provide a minimum income for all families to eradicate child poverty;
· Give children the same legal protection from assault as adults;
· Give refugee children the same rights as other young people;
· Ensure young offenders receive support and protection from harm;
· Increase the opportunities of children in care by improving their education.

The manifesto, Room for Improvement, warned that "significant groups of children are still routinely deprived of their rights and not consulted about or involved in decisions of policy developments that will impact on their lives".

It calls for a ban of the use of solitary confinement, strip searches and restraint for child prisoners; the jailing of child refugees; the removal of the defence of reasonable chastisement to ban parents from hitting their children; and an end to the prosecution of children exploited through prostitution.

A survey to accompany the report found that almost two thirds of people believe there was not enough help for vulnerable children. The NOP poll also showed that nine out of 10 of the 950 questioned believe children's issues should be a priority for all political parties.

While the charities welcomed the new Children Act, the creation of a minister for children, and the appointment of children's commissioners for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, they criticised the government's continuing resistance to fully endorse the UNCRC, which it ratified with reservations in 1991.

Mary Marsh, coalition spokeswoman and director of the NSPCC, said: "Although we have made some progress with the Children Act and the establishment of a minister for children, the manifesto for children shows that there is real room for improvement. Much more must be done to achieve a better future for all children and young people."

The UN has repeatedly criticised the UK for breaching many of the rights it signed up to. The chairman of the UN committee on the rights of the child, Jaap Doek, last November expressed "grave concern" about the violation of children's rights in Britain.