My experience at the UN

By Imogen Schon, age 15

We arrived early on Tuesday morning at the Palais Wilson, the headquarters of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, so that we could get our security passes and find our seats before the examination started at 10 o’clock.

The 18 members of the Committee wasted no time before beginning to fire questions at the 32 UK civil servants who came to represent the Government. Their questions seemed to cover everything – from corporal punishment and the age of criminal responsibility, to the portrayal of children in the media and the state of child poverty. All 3 sessions we intended (at 3 hours each) were extremely intense!

The Committee asked many questions about the age of criminal responsibility – the age at which children can be held legally responsible for their actions – which is 8 in Scotland and 10 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. After some time, the delegation made it clear that these ages would not be raised.

I am really disappointed about this because I do not believe that at the age of 10 children should be criminalised for their actions. The causes are usually very deep seated and therefore punishment is definitely not the answer.

On Wednesday, the Government was examined on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which was extremely frustrating.

The Ministry of Defence representatives were very clear that the age at which you can join the army will not change from 16. I think this is ridiculous and also incoherent with other policies: the voting, smoking and drinking ages are all set at 18, and you can’t buy fireworks because of the risks involved in using them until you are 18 – yet you can join the armed forces and use guns, which are lethal, at 16!

I hope that in their concluding observations, the Committee will recommend that:

• smacking and all forms of corporal punishment are banned
• the age of criminal consent is raised
• the age at which you can join the army is raised
• much more information and education about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is given to both children and adults
• the UNCRC becomes part of the law in the UK.

My 3 days in Geneva were fantastic, if at times frustrating. The Committee’s questions were so searching and the need for change in so many areas so stark, that I’m really excited about campaigning for those changes and hopefully seeing some adopted! What was even better was that the Committee really cared about participation and the Get ready for Geneva report.

I can’t wait to see what’s in the concluding observations!

Posted on Thursday, September 25, 2008