In seeking membership of the UN’s Human Rights Council this year, the UK Government asserted that it is ‘committed to a strong, effective international human rights system.’ It also claimed to be ‘a passionate, committed and effective defender of human rights’.
Such explicit commitment is very welcome. But over the last year, the Government has often given the impression it has no such commitment when the international and European human rights systems impact on the UK. The UK’s human rights record has been scrutinised this year by two UN Treaty Bodies: the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Both condemned the UK for consistently failing to address many previously identified violations of human rights – among them rights specific to children, including the unlawful use of restraint on children in detention, the low age of
criminal responsibility and the persisting legality of corporal punishment.