Deborah McMillan also said many adult Islanders are not aware of their own rights – some of which may be being breached by existing Jersey legislation that needs updating.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyers working in Strasbourg also told her during a visit to the French city last week that they were surprised that there had been no litigation cases in Jersey challenging the laws that currently do not meet a number of international conventions.
For example, the commissioner said the existing Control of Housing and Work Law could be seen as discriminating against some children and adults because of the restrictions it may place on families.
Yesterday, on World Children’s Day, the commissioner attended a pop-up festival at Grouville School to mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
She welcomed this week’s launch of the government’s Putting Children First Pledge and a decision by ministers to make ‘putting children first’ a strategic priority but said: ‘What we have to see now is tangible action. There are all sorts of ways in which things need to improve for children.
‘We are talking about some children in the Island who don’t go to the doctor and dentist because their parents can’t afford it and we know that families are going to food banks more and more. Equally we know that we have 1,000 exclusions [of children from school] a year which is keeping children out of classrooms and we know there is a link between being out of the classroom and not achieving at school.’
Mrs McMillan, who has raised concerns about how ideas recently mooted for a new population policy fit with the rights of children and their families – is now actively working with the government on a number of areas for improvement. A new learning package is due to be launched for civil servants aimed at educating them on human rights and an online training resource that will be accessible to everyone is also in the pipeline. The government has also proposed bringing in a new law which would indirectly incorporate the UNCRC into Jersey legislation.
The commissioner said she visited the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg last week and met lawyers who said they were ‘quite surprised’ there had not been any human rights litigation cases in Jersey.
‘Some of our legislation may not be compliant with international treaties,’ she said, adding there were five treaties which the Island may not currently satisfy the principles of.
Schools across Jersey joined global celebrations to mark World Children’s Day and the 30th anniversary of the UNCRC in a number of ways:
- Grouville students wore blue – the UNCRC colour – and held a pop-up festival run by their Rights Respecting Ambassadors. It also launched its Key Stage 2 pupil voice groups, aimed at giving every child a chance to have their say on school improvement and ways to promote positive change
- St Peter’s School invited parents in after school to celebrate their child’s learning
- Grands Vaux held a Friendship Day with activities for all children from nursery to Year 6. The activities included stop-frame animation, a scavenger hunt, group games, personalised art and design and technology
- Jersey College for Girls ran a variety of activities to promote student talent and raise awareness of international issues as part of a Rights Respecting Week
- St Martin’s School held an assembly and art competition organised by Year 5
- Trinity ran activities from nursery to Year 6 focusing on the global community and making comparisons with their own lives
