Local Government Service Group Conference
15-16 June 2008
Asylum seeker children: All children's rights paramount
|
|
|
John Stevenson
|
Kate Ramsden |
UNISON's local government conference built on a motion
from Scotland last year, and agreed overwhelmingly to keep up the
campaign for children to be seen as children first with their immigration
status second.
The law intended all children's interests to be 'paramount'.
UNISON will continue to campaign for that, it will support members
trying to work within that principle and will continue to challenge
policy and practice which does not comply.
It will press for properly funded services for asylum
seeker children who are unaccompanied and will support campaigns
against their enforced removal.
"We've waged a long campaign to ensure that our members
working with asylum seeker children, unaccompanied children and
trafficked children are supported in delivering the principle that
the child's welfare is paramount," John Stevenson, City of Edinburgh
told delegates.
"That is what the law says, that is what the law intended",
he said, praising the motion from Solihull for putting the issue
on the agenda.
"Last year conference decided that a guide for members
along the lines of the Scottish guide should be produced for England
and Wales. After a year of meetings, writing, research and wrangling
we still do not have a final agreement with our partner in this,
the British Association of Social Workers. However we hope that
it will be published soon," he said.
He told conference of UNISON's role in a campaign
to press the UK government to lift the reservation on the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child and made a plea for the involvement of
lay activists in England and Wales to bring their experience to
these initiatives.
Supporting the motion, Kate Ramsden, Aberdeenshire
Branch spoke of her concerns about the Home Office guidance on unaccompanied
asylum seeker children. "Although it purports to have a child welfare
focus, it is not based on the principle that care planning for these
children should be based on an assessment of their needs as with
any other child. Rather it creates a significant move away from
this by requiring social work and other staff to take account of
immigration processes in the care planning for these children. This
discriminates against these young people who are amongst our most
vulnerable."
Kate praised UNISON's stance on asylum issues, especially
our clear position that the child's welfare is paramount, regardless
of immigration status.
"We need to ensure that our members who work with
these vulnerable children are properly supported to make sure that
our progressive domestic laws, whether in Scotland or across the
UK, apply equally to these children and that this informs our practice.
"Let's challenge an immigration system that would
further undermine their rights."
top
|
Scotland's
public service union 
|
