by John Stevenson
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Kate Ramsden
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The rights of all children must be respected and
they must be protected from child labour, prostitution
and exploitation, demanded the STUC Congress in
a call for effective legislation and support for
trade unions campaigning for these rights.
Supporting a motion from a teaching union and the
STUC Black Members, UNISON's Kate Ramsden called
on the General Council to bring together all interested
parties in Scotland to co-ordinate a campaign for
the proper protection from abuse and exploitation
for all children in this country.
Quoting Gordon Brown's speech earlier, Kate said,
"The Prime Minister today quoted Martin Luther
King as saying the American Constitution was a promissory
note to black Americans. Well, the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child is a promissory note
to all our children. "
"Pressure must be brought to bear on the UK
Government to lift its reservation on Article 22
of the UN Convention to ensure that all the rights
in the convention can apply equally to refugee and
asylum seeker children, including those trafficked."
For some time now, UNISON had been campaigning
on the principle that our progressive child care
legislation, which states that the welfare of the
child is paramount, should apply to all children,
regardless of their immigration status.
"This has been accepted by the Scottish Government
and we now need to campaign to ensure that it informs
the action taken by the immigration authorities
to support and protect displaced children",
argued Kate.
The Home Office itself had admitted that many unaccompanied
asylum seeker children will have been trafficked
into this country and face abuse and exploitation.
"It is surely one of the greatest disgraces
of our modern society that the cruel and inhumane
exploitation of women and children through trafficking
is allowed to go on", said Kate.
Even when these children come to the attention
of the authorities and are placed in care they remain
vulnerable.
"Government figures show that 183 out of 330
suspected child trafficking victims went missing
form care in an 18 month period" explained
Kate.
Trafficked children will have experienced abuse,
including both sexual and physical abuse, and are
vulnerable to further exploitation.
Kate added, "It is a national disgrace that
the UK government continues to prioritise immigration
concerns over child protection and UNISON has been
campaigning for some time now for the reservation
to be lifted and for the welfare principle to apply
to all children."
Scotland's
public service union
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