The Argus - News, Sport, Brighton and Hove Albion and Entertainment for Brighton, Hove and Sussex

Help us get our needs put right

From the The Argus, first published Monday 20th Aug 2007.

In the UK almost four million children live in poverty.

It is a shocking state of affairs for a country that is supposed to have a high standard of living.

Teenagers Kevin Reeves, 16, and Sharon Skinner, 17, from Brighton, are part of a group selected to advise the United Nations on how to meet the needs of children and young people.

Kevin, a young adviser for Brighton and Hove City Council, tells The Argus why drastic action is needed.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which meets in Geneva, examines how well countries all over the world are upholding children's rights.

The committee is guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which gives children and young people more than 40 major rights.

In 1989 the Government signed up to the convention, ratifying it in 1991. This convention is the biggest treaty in the world, with every eligible country signing up to it except Somalia and the United States.

Every five years the UK is examined by the UN committee and recommendations are made to the Government.

There are three parts to this examining process: a report from the Government, a report from non-Governmental organisations and a report from children and young people.

Sharon and I have been selected, along with 15 other young people from across the country, to be members of the steering group for a project being run by the Children's Rights Alliance for England called Get Ready For Geneva.

The aim of this three-year project is to report to the UN on the state of children's lives from our perspective. This is the final and most important part of the examining process. It is being funded by the Big Lottery Fund and will be gathering children's and young people's views. The consultation is being held online - at www.getreadyforgeneva.org.uk - and takes the form of surveys, debates, blogs, comments and forums.

Here young people can have their say about what the Government is doing well and what it is not doing so well. There are young people from across the country involved with this project at various levels, from children's rights investigators and champions to the website and communications team.

The report will be presented next summer and we hope to go to Geneva to present it directly to the UN committee.

In 2002, when the Government was last examined, the UN gave the UK 78 recommendations. So far progress has been made on only 17.

This is against a backdrop of 3.8 million children in poverty.

Sharon and I are supported by numerous organisations and working bodies including Brighton and Hove Youth Council, the United Kingdom Youth Parliament, Youth Advocacy and Participation (YAP), seven Young Advisers employed by the Youth and Connexions Service and the Children and Young People's Trust.

In 2002 the UN expressed numerous concerns and said the Government had to improve in areas such as enabling children to have more influence in decision making in schools. It was also told to: ensure children in care get a good education; ensure children can learn more about their rights; cut youth homelessness; increase safety for children in care; ban parents from smacking children.

In the report submitted by the Government (www.everychildmatters.

gov.uk/uncrc) a lot is mentioned about new policies and legislation but the impact has been dismal.

A consultation by the National Children's Bureau and the Children's Rights Alliance for England found that only seven per cent of children and young people knew a lot about the convention compared with 29 per cent who knew nothing at all.

Sharon and I, the city's representatives on this project, will be working hard over the next few months to encourage children and young people to visit the getready forgeneva website to have their say.

In our area, the issues for children and young people seem to be fairly varied.

Looking at what young people pledged for the 2006 Youth Council Elections, it seems clear that a focus for the city council should be to provide additional funding to such organisations as the Youth Council, to provide more leisure activities at a cheaper cost and to work in association with Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company to look at subsidising young people's travel, possibly with a discount card similar to the scheme already introduced in West Sussex.

Nationally, there is the issue of lowering the voting age to 16. Further national campaigns may be viewed through the Youth Parliament website www.ukyouthparliament.

org.uk.

In the recent national Youth Matters consultation, the top five priorities for making life better for teens aged 13-16 were: more facilities; listen to us; don't label us with names like yobs; treat us with respect; provide us with cheaper travel.

Sharon and I hope to educate more people about the UN convention, persuade people to go on the website to make pledges and post comments and get more young people involved in all aspects of decision making.

There are major issues to consider.

Is it fair that children in the UK can legally be smacked? Is it right that, since the UK was examined in 2002, five young people have died in custody? Is it right that so many consultations occur but the Government doesn't listen?

We don't think so. That's why we are taking children and young people's views to Geneva.

For more information, visit www.getreadyforgeneva.org.uk or email me at kevin.reeves @brighton-hove.gov.uk

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