Children's Commissioner for England

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The Children's Commissioner for England is a publicly funded post allegedly having responsibility to "ensure" compliance in England by the State, with ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The current office holder is Albert Aynsley-Green.

In the accepted hierarchy of treaty terminology, a State's undertaking to "ensure" a right denotes the highest possible obligation - it requires more than mere non interference with a designated right and requires the State party to the treaty to execute positive legislative administrative and legal measures as necessary, to make sure the specified right can be effectively exercised. The word "ensure" is used 32 times in the substantive body of UNCRC and is not derogated in any way.

The comment of non statutory The National Society for the Protection of Children ( NSPCC ), when the Commissioner was appointed by a State characterised by its kinderfeindlichkeit according to both UNICEF and the Article 43 Committee of UNCRC, was as follows: "the England Children Commissioner office does not meet the European standards set out for all European Commissioners.... the NSPCC believes that the Commissioner’s remit and responsibilities should be more closely tied to the UNCRC... which the Government ratified in 1991, granting all children a comprehensive set of economic, social, civil and political rights"

England's Children's Commissioner is required to merely "have due regard for" the Convention. According to a 290106 BBC report he called on government to implement UNCRC, because he is "concerned about abuse of their (children's) rights" in England, and he is publicly asking for a mature debate in the light of what the government signed 190490 and ratified 161291. He is "disappointed there is no mention of the UN convention on children's rights in the government's respect agenda 'action plan'. He has "a fairly shrewd idea of what it's like to be a child and therein lies (his) despair... seeing the awfulness of many children's lives and the way in which the majority of the population in this country appear to be oblivious to the difficulties they are facing."

As the NSPCC predicted and as a 2007 [1] UNICEF report corroborated, the appointment of a token Commissioner has not impacted on reality as it was reported by the Article 43 Committee of UNCRC, when in 1995 report Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child Concerning UK, the Committee found Britain in violation of the Treaty. "In this the Committee observes in particular that the principal for the best interest of the child appears not to be in legislation in such areas as health, education, and social security, which have a bearing on the rights of the child."

It is argued that reality as observed and reported by NSPCC, UNICEF, the Article 43 Committee of UNCRC, Commissioner Aynsley-Green, and Hocking et al, indicates an urgent need for a Children's Commissioner with teeth and hobnailed boots in England.