The timeline of

children's rights Children's rights or the rights of children are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

in the United Kingdom includes a variety of events that are both

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

in nature. The UK government maintains a position that the United Nations

Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of ch ...

(UNCRC) is not legally enforceable and is hence 'aspirational' only, although a 2003 ECHR ruling states that, "The human rights of children and the standards to which all governments must aspire in realising these rights for all children are set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child." Eighteen years after ratification, the four Children's Commissioners in the UK (including those for the three devolved administrations) have united in calling for adoption of the Convention into domestic legislation, making children's rights recognised and legally binding. Opponents of children's rights often raise the objection that

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

must entail responsibilities. The

children's rights movement The Children's Rights Movement is a historical and modern movement committed to the acknowledgment, expansion, and/or regression of the children's rights, rights of children around the world. This act laid several constitutional laws for the growt ...

asserts rather that children have rights which adults, states and the government have a responsibility to uphold. Overall, a 2008 report stated that there had been no improvement in children's rights in the UK since 2002.(2008
UK Commissioners' Special Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
. UK Commissioners. p 4. Retrieved 29 June 2008. Warning that there is a " widely held fear of children and young people" in the UK, the report says: "The incessant portrayal of children as thugs and yobs" not only reinforces the fears of the public but also influences policy and legislation."(2008)
UK Commissioners' Special Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
''. UK Commissioners. p 33. Retrieved 29 June 2008. The report does not address the question of the degree to which the fear of uncontrolled children in the UK is justified. The UNCRC defines children, for the purposes of the Convention, as persons under the age 18, unless domestic legislation provides otherwise. In that spirit, this timeline includes as children all those below the UK age of majority, which was 21 until 1970 when it was reduced to 18. Although the

Crown Dependencies The Crown Dependencies are three dependent territory, offshore island territories in the British Islands that are self-governing possessions of the The Crown, British Crown: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, both lo ...

of the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

and

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

are not constitutionally part of the UK, the British government is responsible for their external affairs and therefore for their international treaty obligations, so this timeline includes references to matters in those dependencies.

Pre-19th century

19th century

20th century

21st century

References

Graham, Dr. Olga. (2009) Autism: The Teratogen Fallout. Toronto: Free Press 777. Rights are needed for children with autism regarding training and educating using visual methodology, proper diagnosis and treatment etc. Rights of children to a non-hazardous environment has become urgent
Autism – the Teratogen Fallout

External links

Child Advocacy Documents - Worldwide

Peter Higginbotham's history of the workhouse

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline of Young People's Rights in the United Kingdom Child care History of youth Young people's rights in the United Kingdom Youth in the United Kingdom