Northern Ireland’s political deadlock is disproportionately harming some of the most vulnerable young people, the children’s commissioner has said.
Koulla Yiasouma said it was “clear our children need a functioning, stable and robust government” and, in a new 146-page report, made a series of calls for fundamental change to education in Northern Ireland.
This report made clear, she said, that children in Northern Ireland “deserve better”.
The Stormont Assembly, despite an election in May, is unable to function after the DUP refused to nominate ministers or a speaker as part of a protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has called for action by the UK government over the post-Brexit trading arrangements before his party will re-enter the devolved government.
Ms Yiasouma, the commissioner for children and young people, stressed that she is not commenting on reasons for not going into government or questioning mandates.
However, she said children and families deserve better from government.
The commissioner has given her assessment on how government is doing on children’s rights across a range of areas, in her third and final Statement on Children’s Rights in Northern Ireland report.
On education, her “calls to government” include:
- Ending the educational attainment gap between certain groups and removing “all barriers to every child’s full participation in and access to a child rights-compliant education system”, including support for those who are LGBTIQ+, new to education in Northern Ireland, children in care, or who have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
- Prioritising children’s mental health and wellbeing in schools by, for example: ensuring that the Addressing Bullying in Schools Act 2016 is effectively implemented by schools; ensuring that all children who need access to counselling services get it, including in primary schools; implementing a wellbeing measure across all schools and ensuring that this is completed by every pupil; ensuring that “pupils’ access to meaningful, age-appropriate, comprehensive and scientifically accurate sexual and reproductive health education” is a mandatory part of school curriculum for all schools in Northern Ireland.
- Move towards a single education system that “provides greater efficiency, and addresses the cost of education for families”, including a “proper review of our segregated system and address the fundamental flaws and inequalities that arise from academic selection”.
- Ensure a comprehensive assessment of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and government’s response to it, “on all children and young people’s access to education, including the most vulnerable, such as those attending special schools”.
- Action to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion in schools - which she describes as “an extremely grave matter” - accompanied by a “training framework to ensure the protection of children in all [educational] settings”.
Ms Yiasouma said that “the absence of a functioning government in the lives of children has, now and historically, adversely impacted their quality of life, life opportunities and prospects - particularly in this current cost-of-living crisis”.
She added: “It is clear our children need a functioning, stable and robust government, with a clear and shared vision - delivering on the rights of all children and young people so they can have the very best start in life.
“This report demonstrates that we still have a long way to go, and children and young people in Northern Ireland deserve better.”
Ms Yiasouma said the first issue for government to tackle as soon as it is re-established is poverty, and any government that does not act on poverty “does not deserve the name”.
“Poverty is the tarnished thread that runs through the most egregious breaches of the rights of children and young people in Northern Ireland. Action has never been more important than now,” she said.
“It’s important to remember that a government has a responsibility to ensure everyone has access to fundamental human necessities, whether that government is in Westminster or Stormont. If it wilfully chooses, as historic governments have, not to properly tackle child poverty then it does not deserve the name.”
Ms Yiasouma said that children from deprived backgrounds were more likely to do less well in school, to be in the care of the state and to have physical and mental health issues.
“Children with mental health issues are more likely to be living in struggling families. Armed groups target and abuse children living in working-class communities, and children and families subject to immigration control are deprived of an adequate standard of living,” she said.
Ms Yiasouma has been children’s commissioner since March 2015, and will step down from the role next March.
She said she was proud of many things, including her office’s contribution to societal shifts in attitudes towards the rights of children and young people.
“I have also seen positive moves in a range of areas, particularly mental health and SEND. The challenge remains to turn this into tangible actions where children and young people experience better outcomes and feel they are respected and valued,” she said.
“There is the beginning of a recognition that children are partners in the decisions made about them individually and collectively, the inclusion of children and young people in the ongoing Independent Review of Education and particularly the establishment of Northern Ireland’s first Youth Assembly are testament to that.”
The commissioner’s report can be read here.
