Parliament and children’s rights

What does Parliament do?

Parliament makes and changes laws in the UK. It is made up of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Queen. Each of these has to agree to any new law (a Bill) before it can be passed (and become an Act of Parliament).

Members of Parliament (MPs) are elected by local people to represent an area of the country (a constituency) in Parliament. 646 MPs sit in the House of Commons.

You can contact your local MP to ask for advice, or to talk about issues that worry you.

Find your MP

The Peers sit in the House of Lords. They are not elected. Peers in the House of Lords make laws, check up on the Government, and give advice. The Law Lords also make judgements about human rights and other court cases.

Parliamentary committees

There are some committees in Parliament made up of MPs and Peers that work on children’s human rights.

All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG)

APPGs are groups of MPs and Peers from all political parties that look at particular issues. The APPG for Children and the APPG for Youth Affairs are most likely to deal with children’s human rights.

Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR)

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) is made up of MPs and Peers. Its main job is to look at Bills passing through Parliament to check that they do not go against human rights.

The JCHR has looked at many children’s human rights issues. These include:

• How the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is put into practice
• Whether England should have a Children’s Commissioner
• Whether the Children Bill (passed in 2004) protects children’s rights
• Deaths in prison (30 children have died in custody since 1990)
• How asylum seeking children are treated in the UK.

Children, Schools and Families Select Committee

The Children, Schools and Families Select Committee holds investigations into issues, law and policy relating to children, schools and families. Recently, it has investigated testing in schools as well as citizenship education. It said that the law should require every school to have a school council.