UK Fails to Fully Protect Children's Rights - Report

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UK government needs to increase recognition and enforcement of the rights of children, especially those it previously pledged to boost, the Joint Committee on Human Rights of the UK Parliament said in a report issued Tuesday.

In December 2010, Westminster promised to give due regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in policy and law development. Although noting some improvement, the report stated that the government failed to tackle the issues of "immigration, legal aid and children in custody, where some policy developments have actually worked against the best interests of children."

The committee also noted that children in England are "experiencing the hard edge of austerity, with mounting threats to their basic human rights."

The Chair of the Committee, Dr. Hywel Francis, concluded in a statement that the momentum to increase awareness and implementation of the basic rights of the child, begun in 2010, has "slowed considerably."

He also urged the next government, to be formed after general elections in May, to "monitor how children's rights are fully taken into account in new law and policy."

The committee report states that by 2016-17 more children will live in poverty unless the government takes immediate action.

In February, the Fabian Society think tank released estimates that the number of children living in poverty in the United Kingdom will increase from the current level of 2.5 million to 3.7 million by 2030.