A CHILDREN'S rights amendment to the Constitution must involve a broad referendum on children's rights, and not just deal with the protection of children from sexual predators, according to the Children's Ombudsman.
Emily Logan was speaking to journalists at the annual conference of the European Network of Ombudsmen for Children in Dublin yesterday. She stressed she would be very interested in the recommendations of the Oireachtas committee that is at present considering the issue.
Referring to an amendment on children's rights, she said the question was how do we decide on what are the best interests of the child. Her office would be making recommendations to the Oireachtas on how to determine the best interests of the child, she said.
Asked for her views on whether children can be sufficiently protected from sexual exploitation by legislative change, in the light of the Supreme Court decision striking down absolute criminal liability for sex with underage girls, she said she wanted to see the best possible protection.
"A lot of people involved in the debate want the same thing. I want a law that will be strong and robust and will stand up to challenge, and where everyone's rights are upheld," she said.
Asked about unaccompanied minors coming into the country, she said they were much more vulnerable and did not get the care that Irish children do.
There were issues relating to their security. They could be very frightened, and when they were in school had other things on their minds. Her office would be carrying out research on this issue, and finding out the views of these children.
She pointed out that her office operated under similar legislation to the original Ombudsman Act in 1980, with the power to investigate complaints against public bodies and make recommendations. If the recommendations were not implemented, she could report on this to the Oireachtas.
She said the office was dealing with about 750 cases a year. "We are trying to pinpoint how people make decisions about children. People can underestimate the impact of their decisions on children's lives."
Meanwhile, some states were now going backwards in relation to their obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, according to the chairwoman of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Giving the keynote speech to the conference via video-link, Dr Yanghee Lee, said: "We are witnessing some states maintaining 'reasonable chastisement', introducing restraints and other methods such as 'tasers'. What is most alarming are legislations on anti-social behaviours and the reintroduction of corporal punishment. The demonising and criminalising of children continues, if not strengthens, in some states.
"We are witnessing some states that are increasing pre-trial detention periods, maintaining a low minimum age of criminal responsibility and even lowering the age of criminal responsibility."
She stressed the importance of national human rights institutions, including such structures as the Children's Ombudsman, in monitoring states' implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The European Network should liaise with the UN committee to monitor the implementation of the convention both domestically and regionally, she said.
In the immediate future, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child would be working on the rights of indigenous children, on defining the "best interests of the child", and on individual complaints, she said.