Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Monday 16th January 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Walmsley]

My Lords, I will be brief but I have six big guns to call in aid. I support Amendment 34 in the name of my noble friend Lady Eaton and the sensible proposals of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, about child abduction and mediation.

The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, mentioned the comments of my right honourable friend the Minister for Children, Sarah Teather, about the best interests of the child. She was of course talking about the child’s rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Big gun number one is Article 4 of the UNCRC, which states that the Government must take,

“all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures”,

to ensure the realisation of rights protected under the UNCRC, and must also apply,

“the maximum extent of their available resources”,

to this purpose. This convention right is engaged by the Bill. It is one of the important general measures of the convention.

Big gun number two is Article 6 of the ECHR, which states:

“It is central to the concept of a fair trial, in civil as in criminal proceedings, that a litigant is not denied the opportunity to present his or her case effectively before the court … and that he or she is able to enjoy equality of arms with the opposing side”.

The Children’s Commissioner stated the blindingly obvious in her letter of 6 January to the Secretary of State. She said:

“Children, by virtue of their age and capacity, will not be able to present their case effectively in the majority of proceedings”.

I share her concern and that of the Joint Committee on Human rights that,

“the ability of the Director of Legal Aid Casework to grant exceptional funding is insufficient to make rights practically effective due to the need”,

to speed things up. She also stated that,

“children without legal advice and assistance will encounter difficulties even in accessing a determination by the Director”.

Big gun number three is Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provides that states parties,

“shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”.

Article 12 states in particular that the child shall,

“be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or appropriate body”.

Big gun number four is the whole of Article 3 about the best interests of the child, which has been quoted by the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss. It is also enshrined in UK law in the Education Act 1986.

Big guns numbers five and six are the Hague convention and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss. As she has already fired her fiery cannonballs at my noble friend, he does not need my bit of buckshot to add to them.

Those are international convention obligations to which we have signed up voluntarily. We now need to step up to the mark and honour them. If we do not, we will be taken to the international court. It is as simple as that.