UNCRC

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a Blueprint for how Children should be Treated and its impact in Ireland

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a Blueprint for how Children should be Treated and its impact in Ireland

Introduction

The main aim of this paper is to discuss critically the United Nations convention on the rights of the child and how the children are treated. It also discusses the impact of this convention in Ireland. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ('UNCRC') was adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1989 and came into force in 1990. By December 2006, all member states had ratified the convention except the United States of America and Somalia (Sutherland 2003,p. 325).

The Convention was the third of its kind in 1924, the League of Nations adopted the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child. This was followed by the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child in 1959. These declarations were significant in promoting the idea that children were important and deserved protection. However, they were aspirational imposing no enforcement mechanism on states.

Children Act 1989

The Children Act 1989 which came into force on 14 October 1991 was the culmination of a ten-year reform process involving the House of Commons Social Services Committee, central government, and the Law Commission. Lady Hale, then a Law Commissioner, was a major force in its development (http://robinhoodtax.org/). Unlike the previous statutes, the Act covers private law (legal relationships between children and their parents or guardians) and public law (local authority powers and duties relating to children).

Regulation of pre-school childcare services in Ireland

Childcare in Ireland is governed by the 1991 Act and the regulations of service to pre-school children (2006 Act). Child care is regulated only when four or more children under six years are kept (http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/). A babysitter can handle up to five children under six years A babysitter can not handle more than two children under fifteen months (except in the case of siblings ). Childminders should inform their local health department if they care for four or more children under six years. Babysitters who do not have the obligation to make themselves known to the committees of babysitters in their city or their county, but may do so at their own initiative, in order to get tax relief , aid and training.

Grants to childminders:

A grant of up to € 5,000 per child in care can be given to improve the quality of service of a childminder. Childminders must be requested through a letter to the Committee on Maternal assistants County. A grant to equip a nursery of up to € 1,000, can also be paid to nannies to help them equip themselves with safety items for the home, books, toys or equipment to make available to children who are kept, a safe environment and promoting their development. The full award is given to childminders well insured, who are committed to working as ...