Oi! Here's some campaigning stuff. Look at the poster in the attachment, isn't it nice. Better even, look at this website and send a letter to Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary. Why? Well, in 1991 the UK signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. So far so good.

However, they decided that although this convention says that the rights apply to all children, this would not be so in the UK, where children subject to immigration control have lesser rights. This means that the UK can pass legislation without considering children's rights if the legislation affects children without leave to remain in the UK. That would be asylum seeking children, trafficked children, unaccompanied children. This is why asylum seeking children can be indefinitely detained without having committed a crime or having legal recourse to challenge such detention. This is why Glasgow City Council can operate a separate admissions system for pre 5 services and only offer free nursery places to children of asylum seekers who are 4 years (rather than the statutory entitlement of nursery education for ALL 3 and 4 year olds). This is why the UK can deport children whose parents have committed a crime, even though the children haven't. And so on.

At present, there's a consultation out (closes 25th April) which asks if this reservation should be removed. So you can find the question easily - it's question 16 in the consultation document.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says that all children have the same rights. Full stop. No exceptions. This UK reservation is big time unfair, so let's tell the Home Secretary and "Children's Champion" at the Home Office what they should have known for years. Let's just get rid of this reservation.