Canada not living up to UN convention on children's rights, say senators

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada should ban spanking and launch an information campaign to ban all forms of corporal punishment, the Senate human rights committee said Thursday.
The committee's report also called on the federal government to develop a strategy to combat bullying and help teach children and their parents how to resolve conflicts without resorting to physical intimidation.

The recommendations were part of document that accused the government of failing to live up to its international obligations by denying children their right to influence government decisions.

Bullying has become a priority of school boards across the country, particular as the practice spread from the school yard to cyberspace.

The report from the all-party committee also calls on Ottawa to appoint a children's commissioner to stand up for what it describes as a voiceless segment of Canadian society.

"Children's voices rarely inform government decisions, yet they are one of the groups most affected by government action or inaction," says the committee's 296-page report, entitled 'Children: The Silenced Citizens.'

"Children are not merely underrepresented; they are almost not represented at all."

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Canada ratified in 1992, puts children at the centre of family, community and culture, but the senators say there is a gap between "the rhetoric and the reality" of children's lives in Canada.

"Children must be in the room," Liberal Senator Jim Munson told a news conference. "Children must be at the table.

"Too often we dictate ... to children and it's just not right."

The committee, which made 24 recommendations on the rights and freedoms of children, says many Canadians continue to resist full implementation of the UN convention on the subject.

It calls Ottawa's commitment to children's rights inadequate due to "jurisdictional complexities, the absence of effective institutions, an uncertain approach to human rights law, and lack of transparency and political involvement."

The senators say compliance with children's rights undertakings needs better accountability, increased parliamentary and public input, and "a more open approach that promotes transparency and enhanced political will."

"The Convention on the Rights of the Child is not solidly embedded in Canadian law, in policy, or in the national psyche," says the report.

"Canadians are too often unaware of the rights enshrined in the convention, while governments and courts use it only as a strongly worded guiding principle with which they attempt to ensure that laws conform, rather than acting as if they are bound by it."

"Also, no body is in charge of ensuring that the convention is effectively implemented in Canada, and the political will is lacking. Implementation is key to making the convention work, and for Canada to claim that it fully respects the rights and freedoms of its children, it should improve its level of actual compliance."

Ottawa doesn't have effective mechanisms in place to ensure compliance with its international human rights treaty obligations, the report says.

"Canada possesses no modern, transparent, and democratic international human rights treaty implementation process," it says. "Further, no institution has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that international human rights conventions are effectively implemented."

It calls for a formalized system to monitor implementation of international conventions and treaties, including - in the case of child rights - a group to co-ordinate and monitor federal legislation and policy along with an independent children's commissioner to monitor progress and meet with provincial child advocates.

© The Canadian Press, 2007