This House of Lords Library Briefing provides information on children’s rights to mark Universal Children’s Day on 20 November 2019.
Children’s Rights in 2019 (308 KB , PDF)
Universal Children’s Day is celebrated on 20 November each year. It aims to “promote togetherness” and improve children’s welfare. This year will mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which established 54 articles that set out children’s rights. The UK ratified the UNCRC in 1991. According to United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), four “general principles” are fundamental to realising all rights in the UNCRC convention. These are: non-discrimination; best interest of the child; right to life survival and development; and right to be heard.
This House of Lords Library Briefing provides an overview of recent developments within the UK in terms of children’s rights. It then explores current United Nations (UN) priorities for children’s rights globally, before ending with background information on the UNCRC.
Children’s Rights in 2019 (308 KB , PDF)
While international attention has largely been focused on the Middle East and Ukraine, the civil war in Sudan continues. The UN has characterised the conflict as the “world’s largest hunger crisis”. As peace negotiations stall, concerns are rising not only for the people of Sudan but also about the conflict spreading to neighbouring states.
The prison population in England and Wales is at risk of exceeding prison capacity. To address this in the short term, the Labour government has changed the law to allow certain prisoners to be automatically released on licence into the community after serving 40% of their sentence in prison. This briefing explores what the reaction to the law change has been and whether there are alternative options that could prevent prisons becoming full.
This briefing provides a summary of a recent report by the international children’s rights charity Save the Children entitled ‘Stop the war on children: Let them live in peace’, as well as UK government policy in this area. It has been prepared ahead of Baroness Anelay of St Johns’ (Conservative) upcoming debate on 12 September 2024 on the government’s assessment of the impact of international conflict on children and the recommendations proposed in Save the Children’s report.
