UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

HC Deb 27 January 1999 vol 324 cc249-50W

Mr. Stinchcombe

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Government have to remove the United Kingdom's reservation on Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. [67216]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

We do not propose to remove this reservation. We are establishing a separate juvenile estate, but there will continue to be occasions when the mixing of young offenders and adult prisoners is necessary. This may be due to a lack of suitable accommodation or adequate facilities for a particular young person.

Mr. Stinchcombe

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reservations and derogations the UK Government have entered under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. [67214]

Mr. Hutton

I have been asked to reply.

Upon ratification in 1991 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, the United Kingdom Government entered four reservations and two declaratory interpretations.